Void Warrior
by Zarkos
Summary: Things aren't always as them seem and death sure as hell wasn't. From a bombing to a world of magic, the universe seems to have a sense of humor. A Fairy Tail selfinsert/rebirth fic. There will be yuri in later chapters and lemons, you have been warned. Also will contain a bit of a harem.
1. Taeron Orphanage

I asked what story you readers would like to see (at the end of the third chapter for Conduit "Academy Struggles") besides the two I've already got going; Freezing: Wolf God and my RWBY fanfic Conduit. In the end I decided on my own that my third major story for this site will be this one; a Fairy Tail self insert/rebirth fic. This story will more or less follow cannon, but have several arcs that are of my own making. Also there are some major things different from cannon such as Ur being alive (and that will be explained when applicable) as well as Ultear being in Fairy Tail along with Gray. There are other differences but those are two examples. As with my other two stories I will be dropping references to things so be on the look out for those, and the first one to get them right gets a shout out in the next chapter.

Lastly this story was inspired by "Child of Heaven" by jacques0 which is a story I recommend if you don't mind a little messed up formatting (at least in my mind), but good story.

* * *

Death isn't as bad as I had thought, though it wasn't pain free. That was the lesson I learned the night I died. I remember almost every detail of that night. That night had started with a late venture to down town Portland, in Oregon not Maine, for something. That was one thing I couldn't remember. I think it might have been to Powell's bookstore. That night had been warm so I hadn't worn much; a black t-shirt, black jeans, and tennis shoes and a backpack that held something. The MAX trains had been busy and delayed so it was pretty late for most people, but not me exactly. Yeah, I am one of those crazy bastards who goes to be regularly at anywhere between 1-3 in the morning. When the MAX train finally showed up I got in and sat down as it started to move. A few minutes later I closed my eyes for a long nap only to have the train shake suddenly.

That woke me up instantly as I narrowly avoided slamming into the side of the train by bracing myself with a hand on one of the yellow orange painted bars. What the hell? I looked around seeing nothing, except for the fact the MAX train was on a bridge over a freeway. Another shake of the train tossed about a number of other people who hadn't been expecting it or braced themselves with the metal bars. A third shake, this time closer and definitely louder with a boom. Then my world was suddenly made up of fire, pain, and blood. I lay there bleeding out and burnt badly. Someone had set up bombs on a train and taken the time to get the whole bloody thing, considering I was at the back of the train. I could see that I wasn't the only one almost dead. A woman was near me and two smaller bodies. Groaning brought my eyes to the metal above me which fell shortly after, crushing my skull. It had been very painful but at least it was a quick death thanks to the falling metal.

However, nothing could have prepared me for what came after that. At first it was darkness then light shined and burned it away. That was when feeling came back to me, and something felt off. I could hear voices somewhere around me thought I couldn't make out what they were saying. One I could tell was female and the other was male. For some reason I felt helpless as if I couldn't do anything on my own. I opened my eyes to see bright light then it faded allowing me to see that I was in some sort of room. The room had wood walls that had a number of decorative items attached to them. A few were different sized horns, another was a broken chest plate of armor, a glowing blue crystal that was tree shaped without leaves, and a painting or two. The room also seemed unnaturally large as if I were tiny. Why would I be so small?

"Is my baby okay?" the female voice asked, a worried tone to her voice.

Baby? That would explain the seemingly unnatural size of the room...I have to go through life again?

"Yes, although..." Another answered with a pause. This voice was new, it didn't sound like the male I had heard earlier. I felt movement and a new set of hands grabbed me. Sharp green eyes met mine with a studying gaze. The green eyes of this new male left mine and briefly looked over my small form. It was then I felt something kind of like energy outside of my body all around the room. Kind of like holding a hand near an electrically charged piece of metal. I felt a tiny prick at on one of my feet and let out an angry grunt, or the closest a baby can get to one. "She isn't human."

"What do you mean not human?" Another male said, this one sounding like the first male's voice I heard earlier. However there was a clear undertone of anger.

If I'm not human then what am I? And I was female too, according to the male holding me. Well that's dandy.

"Her blood isn't the same color as a human's." The other male said with a sigh. "Human blood is red as you know, but her's is bright blue in color."

"Can you tell me what she is doctor?" The female said slowly with clarity.

"A Void Demon." The doctor holding me replied.

Void Demon? That's what I am? What the hell does that mean?

"I see." The woman replied sounding relieved. "Aside from that she's fine?"

I saw the doctors face once more get close to mine before getting put into another pair of hands, though I could tell they were female. "Yes." With that I saw him get up and leave from where I was held. I was turned to face the woman holding me who was beautiful. Her sky blue eyes radiated calm and love. Crimson colored hair went down past her shoulders ending somewhere I couldn't see.

"Hello Aether." The woman said to me with a smile. "I don't care that you are a Void Demon, you are still my daughter." I could feel the love in her words, the love a mother has for their children. After that my mother breast fed me and I went to sleep.

Time passed quickly with this new family, and I learned a lot. Aside from the fact I was something called a "Void Demon", something that wasn't human, I was in a different world from before. I had been shocked when my father who I only knew as Aeron had cast magic to ignite the fire of a grill. Needless to say that day I had figured out quickly where I had ended up. I had been somehow reborn into the world of Fairy Tail. That wasn't the only thing that had thrown me for a loop in a year and a half of life. The second biggest one was that I could feel the energy in the air around us and I could speak to a degree. However, it was nothing to the level I was accustomed to before dying.

My mother, Karen, had been thrilled to discover that at one and a half I could talk in broken english. As I had overheard one time speaking and moving around at my age wasn't all that uncommon for Void Demons since they grew and aged differently than humans did. For six months she taught me as much as she could about language, though having the mind and thought patterns of a 22 year old helped. I always surprised her which had me in a good mood seeing the surprise and smile on her face at what I could do. For my second birthday I knew they had something planned in the relatively small but welcoming house that we lived in. The house itself wasn't all that large with a living room at the center, a door to the backyard from there, a kitchen off to one side opposite of the front door and the hallway. Down that hallway were two rooms that belonged to me and the larger one was my parent's room.

I sat as usual in the middle of the living room near the couch looking out the window by the front door to see a clear blue sky without any clouds in it. Aeron was in the kitchen making food while Karen was in the back yard doing something. Out of curiosity I got up from the floor and waddled towards the back door that was open. It was annoying to be moving so slow when I was mostly accustomed to walking fast, as I did in my old life. The back door was open so it allowed me to view the yard that was a little on the messy side with some weeds, a few rose plants, uneven grass, and in the center of it all was a small wooden table. Karen stood next to the table wearing a simple dark blue robe with her crimson hair down, which reached to the small of her back.

"Hello Aether." Karen said not looking away from whatever she was messing with on the table.

"Hi mom." I said watching her. She kept messing with something moving it this way and that for some time as her face took on several different expressions. At first it was concentration which shifted to annoyed, then settled on a serious one as she turned to me.

I could see both seriousness as well as something else I couldn't quite place in her eyes as she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I have to ask you something Aether." I tiled my head to the side, a sign to ask the question. "Can you sense the Ethernano around us, the energy in the air?"

I nodded.

Karen opened her mouth but paused looking to the west of the house. I felt some sort of presence over in that direction. That presence didn't feel the same as Aeron who has a fire mage. It felt dark as if it wasn't exactly from this world, hell I wasn't exactly either. "They're here." Mother said, her voice containing annoyance.

"Who coming this way?" I asked seeing her turn to me surprised.

"I though we would have more time." Aeron said making me turn around to see his legs behind me. There was a tone of sadness in his voice. Why was it there? "We have to do the ritual now."

Ritual? What for? And why did they look troubled by whatever was coming our way?

"I know." Karen said coming to me and picking me up. "I really didn't want to do this, but they give us no choice." I stayed silent as I got carried into their room and down through a trap door into some sort of cellar. It was spacious and littered with regents for all sorts of magical things. In the center was a ring carved into the floor that was itself encased in another ring with lots of crazy symbols in it. Karen placed me in the center of it and took position in front of me. After a pause she said something and the circle came alive with magic power making me a bit nervous.

Just what is she doing? Without warning pain burned out my senses as if I had been placed into acid bath. I screamed seeing magic come out of the ground and coil around me like a snake. I couldn't tell how much power was being channeled into me, but I could see tears in Karen's eyes.

She was breathing hard and look a little on the pale side. "I'm sorry, and good bye Aether." She said placing both hands on her part of the circle. "I love you." Those were the last words I heard before the room was dominated by pure magical power, and I fell unconscious with one final jolt of pain.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

That was a day that would always haunt me and make me wonder why she had did some sort of spell on her own child. The house I had lived in with my parents was destroyed from an explosion that had killed everyone except for me. I had been spared by that magic circle and found by a mage called Qrow Kain whom brought me to Taeron's Orphanage. That was a year ago. I was now three and most of my time when the kids were out playing was spent sitting alone watching the others. I did always have a constant companion of sorts, it was the magic in the air. Ever since the day I was examined by that doctor I've always felt it and I had managed to do some magic which was interesting. Like many times before I sat on a stump in the back yard of the Orphange where the children played usually. I held up my hands and thought of a small orb and one materialized above my hands in the air. It was a shadowy looking with purple and black mixed together. I instinctively knew what type of magic it was, Void Magic.

As it turned out Taeron's Orphanage was for children of all types. Those who weren't human, part human, or simply abandoned by their parents or families. However I was the only Void Demon which made me feel a bit out of place. But...

"You did it again Aether!" A voice commented snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked down to see one of the older boys standing there eyeing the orb floating in my hands. He was one of the few who had gone out of their way to befriend me or at least interact with me despite the fact the he was human. As usual his brown hair was a ragged mess that went to just above his shoulders. His eyes were an odd shade of light red that was almost pink, which gave him a lot of trouble from others who teased him. He was wearing a faded blue t-shirt that was a little large on him and a pair of black shorts could be seen underneath it.

I couldn't help the small grin forming on my face as some of the others stopped playing to come towards me. For some reason they all got excited whenever I used magic around them, as if I was the only one who could use magic. There were four of us who could use magic with the other three being seven years older than myself.

"Can you do anything else Aether?" One of the gathered kids asked.

I shrugged as the void orb above my hands vanished. "Not really."

"You won't get stronger if you don't test the limits of your powers Aether." A gruff but gentle voice said making me look up. Leaning next to the back door of the orphanage was the man whom founded it, Taeron Seva. Taeron was a rough looking man that kind of reminded me of Guildarts a bit in body build. He was dressed in his usual faded blue jeans and black tank top. His hair was short and almost golden blond in color while his sapphire eyes radiated ease that made it easy for him to deal with the kids. I knew the man was a mage because of the sheer amount of magic power I could feel from him.

"I know." I sighed.

"I'd like to talk to you in my office." He added going into the two story house. The brown haired boy helped me down front the stump and they all moved to go play again. I made my way through the house that Taeron had bought and converted into an orphanage. It was a welcoming decor that was pretty simple and done with earthen browns and soothing forest greens. On the second floor was rooms for the older children and Taeron's office at one end of the house. I made my way there and closed the door before taking a seat on the couch that rested next to a coffee table. Taeron's office was a bit large with two couches on either side of a small table that rested in the middle of the room. Towards the large window opposite of the door was his desk.

"What is it?" I asked once again looking at the sides of the room which held bookshelves full of large books.

"Do you feel alone being the only Void Demon at the orphanage?" Taeron asked from his chair with a studying gaze. "I see you on your own a lot."

I stayed silent for a time before answering. "Sort of." I paused kicking my back and forth a bit. "I wonder about my parents a lot too."

"I see." He commented watching me. "Are you sure? Ryan, Jack, Alice, and Kayla have taken a liking to you."

I played with the hem of the dress I was wearing, a simple brown one that reached to just past my knees. Those four were the ones who went out of their way to interact with me on a regular basis. They were all several years older than me but loved me like a little sister. Despite being a Void Demon and them being human they cared about me strongly, as if that little fact didn't bother them at all.

"I have fun with them but I'm afraid to do more with my magic."

I saw him raise an eyebrow. "Why?"

Ryan, Kayla, Alice and Jack were all supportive of me doing more with my magic unlike some of the others. I was pretty sure that was because the majority of the children here were fully human, and a handful of us weren't. A lot of the older human kids sat off on their own and stayed together, all the while giving me dirty looks whenever they could. "I fear that they will reject me like the older humans." I replied feeling as if I was about to cry.

I heard Taeron get up and get something from one of the bookshelves from the sound of it. He came over and knelt down to be more or less even with me on the couch. He shook his head with a smile as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "They won't." He said making my eyes go wide. "The older humans may fear you because you are different, but that doesn't matter."

"What do you mean?" I asked him tilting my head not quite getting it.

Taeron pulled his hand back from my shoulder. "I'll show you something." He held up both hands with palms facing upwards. In one hand a orb very similar to the one I had conjured earlier appeared, though much larger. And in the other hand was a glowing ball of fire. "I'm half Void Demon and half human." Closing his hands slowly the two orbs vanished. "I used to be feared because I wasn't fully human and had powers others did not. After I joined a wizard guild people slowly started to change their minds with my accomplishments over the years." He paused to smile at something with his eyes closed. "It is not the abilities we are born with that show who we are, Aether. It is our choices that show who we really are to the world."

I sat there stunned. That reminded me of a part of the second Harry Potter movie where Dumbledore mentions the difference between Harry and Voldemort. Taeron was absolutely right. If the older humans chose to stay afraid of me that is their choice. I have others that will welcome the expansion of what I can do.

"Thanks." I said with a smile before something was placed in my lap. Looking down I saw a book _Magic for Beginners_.

"This should help you develop your magic." He said with a smile before giving me a small hug. I hugged him back and left his office to read from the book. The Next two years passed quickly as I studied and read the book thoroughly. Over that time my magic had expanded considerably allowing me to do many more things such as shape shifting. According to Taeron shape shifting is one of the things that Void Demons can do and it comes more or less naturally, though it was hard for him to master because he is half. He had also been lucky enough to get a book with an overview of the magic I used from one of the bookstores in the city near the orphanage. Thanks to that I had discovered that the magic employed by Void Demons was a mixture of Slayer and Ice Make since Void Energy was, according to the book and my own experiments, easy to mold into shapes and destructive.

Jack, Ryan, Alice and Kayla had all grown and stayed with me the whole time. My days were happy as they dragged me to play with them regularly or to show them magic. They had also gotten to read the book and were able to barely do things with magic. The best any of them could do was slightly move around feathers that I could conjure that held the color of the void, being a mixture of purple and black that was stronger on the latter.

It was another warm sunny day so I was laying down in the grass in the back yard basking in the light along with those I considered brothers and sisters. There was little to no breeze and laughter filled the air as some of the others played tag to one side. I had quickly been asked not to participate much in games simply because I would always win, such as tag. They could never catch up to me in human form or in the animal forms I could shape shift into.

"Do you guys want to go Gruen?" Kayla asked. She was the youngest of our group aside from me with lilac eyes and black hair that reached her shoulders.

I opened my eyes to see her sitting up. The human was wearing a red long sleeved shirt and gray pants. I looked over to see the boys on my left dressed in t-shirts and shorts that were red and blue. I was dressed in black shorts and a gray t-shirt. Gruen was the nearby town that Taeron went to whenever the orphanage needed supplies. He also let the kids go there to get treats from some of the merchants there.

"Yeah." Ryan commented from next to me.

"I'm game." I commented looking forward to a visit to Gruen.

"Let's go." Jack said getting up before leading us through the house. We found Taeron in the kitchen cleaning pans. "Do you need anything from Gruen? We're about to head there." Jack was the oldest out of our little group. His blue hair was like Ryan's, always in a mess but shorter than the other boy's brown hair. Unlike the rest of us Jack had unassuming brown eyes.

Taeron shook his head. "I don't and stay safe you five."

"We will be fine." Kayla said before putting a hand on my shoulder. "Aether is coming with us." With that we left the house and made our way down the dirt road to Gruen. It was a ten minute walk to the small city but the beautiful trees and landscape always made me smile. Gruen sat next to the sea so it was a port city that was busy with activity. Merchant ships brought in goods that either got sold in the city itself or were sent to other cities to be sold there. The guards waved at us as we entered heading for the market district.

It did not take us long to navigate the streets to get to the market district which was exactly as it sounded, the part of the city where all the shops and such were located. My stomach rumbled at the different scents in the air from the various food stalls earning a laugh from the four with me. I ignored them going for a familiar shop that held just what I needed. I entered the butcher shop along with the others before the shop owner peaked her head over the counter.

"Welcome you five." She greeted wiping her cleaver with a white cloth. The woman looked to be in her mid sixties but had the reflexes of someone half her age. Gray hair was tied into a pony tail that reached down to mid back. A blood stained apron rested over a simple brown shirt and pants. "What brings you here today?"

"I'm hungry." I replied and on queue my stomach rumbled. "Did the rats come back?"

"They didn't." She answered.

Rats were among my favorite snacks to eat when it came to raw meats which I could eat without any harm being a Void Spawn. Unlike some meats they didn't have much in terms of stringy fats. Sadly I still have a problem with very stringy foods or substances when eating because of their texture. For some reason I react to those by choking on them, not a fun or pleasant experience. That had panicked Taeron once when I had gotten my hands on a piece of raw meat that he was going to cook in the oven.

"However my son did get some extra meat on his latest hunt so I'm going to give some of that to you." She said. "Which includes rabbit." At that I started drooling. Rabbit was the best meat I had ever gotten to eat either from Azumi, the butcher, or from one of my little hunting trips into the forest near the orphanage. She left for the back room where she kept all the raw meat in chests full of ice. A few minutes later she came out of the back with two pieces of meat. One was rabbit just from the smell of it and the other was a thick piece of lizard meat.

"There she goes again." Ryan commented as I snagged the rabbit meat first and took a bite.

I turned to look at the four whom followed me inside. "Why do you guys come in here if seeing me eat raw meat bothers you?" I asked seeing Jack go green and Kayla looking a bit pale, though Ryan seemed to be alright or he was good at hiding that it bothered him. Alice didn't really look bothered by it in the least as she watched me quietly. Alice was the most quiet of us five with white hair and kind kind jade eyes. Taking a second bite Jack ran for the side door to puke outside and Kayla turned away from me.

"At least he made it outside this time." Azumi chuckled as I followed her gaze to the side door that Jack ran out of. The last time he saw me eat like this the poor human didn't make it outside the shop, so he had been stuck there for a day to clean it up. It didn't take me long to finish the piece of rabbit meat. They don't exactly have much meat on them, but it is very tasty. Azumi tapped me on the shoulder before handing me the larger piece of meat.

"We come in here cause we don't want to leave you alone." Kalya explained not turning around. "Taeron would give us a lecture if we did."

I smiled. "He would." One thing the kids of the orphanage and I liked was that Taeron was a gentle man who rarely dished out punishment, but did so when the time called for it. Mostly he would question us as to why we did things and had us learn that it was a mistake or not a good thing to do. Another thing I noticed was that he really didn't lie much and was willing to admit if he didn't know something.

I opened my mouth to take a bit of the meat when I felt something off in the distance. I walked outside and looked to the forest that sat to Gruen's west. I could sense magic that was moving in concentrated forms, which meant wizards. It wasn't unusual for wizards to go through Gruen since it was a port city. But this concentration of magic felt wrong. It felt like darkness, fire, and evil.

"What is it Aether?" Azumi asked drawing my attention to her worried face.

"Something dark is coming." I said focusing my sight in the direction of the forest.

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feel free to leave reviews with questions and I will answer them to the best of my ability without spoiling much of the story. I am working on chapter 12 of Wolf God and chapter 4 of Conduit but I will be finishing those soon. So you know spell names will be in bold.


	2. The Dark Tower

Here we are with chapter two of Void Warrior. I have five full chapters typed up and just started the sixth one earlier today because I am in a big Fairy Tail mood. Thanks for favoring and following this story along with those of you who faved and or followed me. That means a lot. To give you guys a heads up there is a reference character in this chapter (and he shows up in the third one too), he is a reference to a video game villain. Here is your hint for that character: a three game series that has a consequence for every choice made in it.

chaosrin: First of all thanks for the review. I can see your point that Aether speaking at an early age and gaining abilities fast may feel Mary Sue like, but I don't exactly think so. Her learning fast is an aspect that I have since I can learn things quickly and i have a tendency to experiment when I can with what I learn. I have a habit of writing strong or powerful characters that have problems which is usually social interactions. in terms of speaking early I can agree that it is a little bit of a stretch, however if you had the mind of an adult yet the body of a child wouldn't you try to speak as early as possible? Although I haven't made it clear yet Void Demons aren't a relatively unknown race, the world knows of them so it is possible for Aether or other Void Demons to eat raw meat in human cities.

* * *

Several minutes passed by as I felt the dark magic get closer to Gruen. Then all hell broke loose. Fire rained from the sky onto the city making everyone panic. The normal people ran this way and that as the city guards mobilized to deal with the threat that had reared its ugly head.

"We need to get back to the orphanage." I said letting go of the piece of meat then changing form to that of a large wolf. I lowered myself so the Jack and Kayla could get on my back. Once they were I started running in the direction of the orphanage along with Ryan who was next to me and Alice was on the other side. We weaved our way through the streets avoiding fire and panicking people that is until something crashed into me from the side. Jack and Kayla were tossed off my back as I rolled to my feet to see what attacked me. A large jaw of razor sharp teeth greeted me along with the rough shape of some dog sized creature.

"You okay Jack, Kayla?" Rayan asked from behind me grunting.

"Yeah, just a little bruise." Kayle replied. "What is that thing?"

"I don't know." I replied growling at the dog looking thing. It radiated darkness kind of like the mages I could sense. "Get going, I can take care of this thing."

"Let's go." Ryan urged. "Aether can take care of herself." Not long after I heard their shoes pounding on the cobblestone the dog thing moved. It charged me with an open maw of teeth. I rolled to the side to let it go past me then tore into the area past the mouth. Black blood gushed forth from the wounds my fangs created as I placed a paw on part of the body and pulled. The shadow dog let out a roar of pain as I tore flesh from it without much resistance. Just what kind of flesh did this thing have for me to tear it so easily? I spat out the dark chunk of flesh and the went to work tearing the shadow dog to pieces.

"That thing killed one of the demon dogs." Someone said as foot steps approached.

I looked up to fond three men standing a little above me on the road wearing black robes with some sort of wicked looking symbol on it. They all had hoods that hid their faces for the most part, but their eyes and mouth were visible. As I had thought the magic these mages had was the same as the demon dog I had killed.

"Kill it." One of them said then they started chanting.

I could feel their building magic for some sort of spells. It was time to see if training my magic was worth it or not. " **Void Demon's Roar**!" I said breathing in deeply before exhaling a blast of void magic in front of me, like the breath attack of a dragon. The blast hit all three of them and knocked them back a few yards with some bleeding burns. I smirked at the damage, glad to see some results of my training. "Why are you dark mages here?" I asked shape shifting to human form.

"That caught us off guard kid." The largest of the dark wizards grunted as he got up. "But now your in for some pain." Just as he said that a blast of energy hit me in the chest launching me into the side of a building. I let out a growl at the impact. My arm felt a little sore, but that wasn't quite as surprising as seeing a hole where I had gone through the wall. I hid next to the opening that I had made and waited for one of the mages to come through. Sure enough one of them did.

" **Void Blade**." I whispered as a small blade of void energy formed in my left hand. The mage that had come in turned around spotting me. Before he could do anything I slashed his throat silencing him. Since I went hunting for meat in the forest I was no stranger to killing and how to do it, though he was the first human I've killed. Turning away from the bleeding man I rushed outside to finish off the other two. I threw the Void Blade at one of the two left sticking it in his arm.

The man let out a small scream right before I punched him in the face saying. " **Void Demon's Fist.** " The result was more than I expected. My void charged punch shattered his nose pushing it into his skull as blood and brains spewed out his ears.

"You runt!" The third man growled as I landed. His hand aimed right for me with a ball of fire on front of it.

I knelt down and put my hands on the road. " **Void Barrier.** " I said summoning a wall of Void energy to protect me in the shape of a dome. I felt the spell hit the barrier but it didn't do much. I stood up dispelling the barrier and made to punch the male in front of me. " **Void Lance.** " I said thrusting my arm out as if I was going to punch him and my arm turned into void energy past my elbow stabbing him through the heart. I retracted my arm and it returned to normal before I fell to one knee. I breathed hard feeling tired as I surveyed the area around me. I couldn't see anyone moving but I knew there were three humans I had killed to defend myself. In the distance I could hear fighting and yelling so I gathered my magic for a spell. " **Void Resonance**." I muttered as a soundless ripple of energy left me in all directions. That was a spell I had come up with to give me detailed information about what was around me.

Numerous humans were still in the city and I could tell that the dark forces were being pushed back by the city guard, however a group of them were near me. I opened my eyes and got to my feet when I felt evil behind me.

"So this is what happened to those three idiots." A cold voice said from behind me. I turned to face the speaker to find cruel green eyes studying me. A chill ran down my spine as I looked into those eyes. He wore the same robes as the others I had killed, but this human easily had more magic than they did. "To be using magic at five years old that is potent enough to kill them..." He paused before a smug look came over his face. "You must be the Void Demon that was rumored to live near here."

The mages next to him raised their arms into the sky. I knelt down throwing up my shield. " **Void Barrier**." I called feeling the spells hammer on the dome making me wince at each impact.

A dark chuckle came from in front of me. "Not bad, demon." The powerful dark mage said hissing out the last word. "Your barrier won't survive my attack." Magic suddenly surged around me charging up for something. " **Brilliant Detonation.** " I heard then my world exploded in pain and fire. My barrier instantly flickered out of existence and I went flying up into the air trailing blood. I hit the ground with a meaty thump before black boots came into my vision. I saw a hand reach for me then I passed out.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

I could hear voices around me and feel swaying movement. The voices came from close by, but I couldn't tell who they belonged to. Something hit me and I winced opening my eyes. I saw the ceiling was wood and the room was filled with children of various ages.

"Aether!" A voice called before a body hugged my own. I recognized the person's black hair as Kayla's.

"Hey." I said weekly wincing again as something brushed one spot on my body. "Where am I injured?"

There was a pause as I watched Kayla's eyes look over me. "You've got lots of cuts and...half of your right arm is gone."

"That bad?" I sighed.

"Yeah." Kayla answered. "How did you get captured?"

I brought my right arm up to see that everything a little past the elbow was missing. Bright blue blood coated the severed part, and some of it was changing. "I got into a fight with some of those dark mages. One of them overpowered me." I explained watching some parts of the wound heal faster than I thought. Bone was slowly growing from the stub making my eyes go wide.

"That would explain-" Kayla stopped suddenly. I glanced at her then back to the stump of my right arm. "Your arm is regenerating!"

"I thought you guys escaped?"

Kayla shook her head. "No. They cut us off before we could get out of Gruen."

"Get up you miserable rats!" A man barked as a wall folded down to show some sort of docks. A bunch of men dressed in dark robes came on board and herded the kids into lines after putting something on them. Several of them came towards us holding shackles before putting them on us, save for me.

"The Commandant blew your arm up but don't worry." One of them said to me as he leaned close. "It will regrow in a day or so since it wasn't the hole thing." Next thing I knew a metal collar was put around my neck. "That collar silences your ability to use magic Void Demon." With that he stood up and left then I was herded into a line. There were seven ships that I could see from our line at the docks including the one we were on. There must have been almost a hundred children and a dozen or so adults. Patrolling the docks were more of the dark wizards and dozens of their demonic dogs. In the distance stood a tower, or the base of one. There wasn't much past the base so it was far from complete.

Without warning a pain surged through my form dropping me to a knee. I looked up to see one of the dark mages lift his staff and a white ring appeared around me. Once again pain erupted and I coughed up blood onto the stone docks. "Get moving or I'll blast you again Void Demon." The man warned and with Kayla's help I got moving with the others. They led us into a cavernous area first where we could see others moving stones around under the watchful eyes of the dark robed men. We were escorted past there to another area that held straight hallways and metal cages. They separated the kids into groups pushing them into the cages and locking the door. Kayla and I were shoved into one of the many cages and that's when realization dawned on me. We are slaves.

"Why are we in cages?" Someone asked making me turn to the source. In one corner sat a scared Ryan covered in bruises.

I got on me feet using the stone wall of the cell as leverage with a grunt. I walked slowly over to him hearing Kayla not far behind. "Ryan." I said getting his attention. Wide pink eyes focused on me then the one thing easily visible in the cell, my regenerating arm.

"Aether, what's going on?" Ryan said then began to reach for my wounded arm, but I moved it away from him.

"I don't know what my blood does to humans so I don't want you touching it." I said then he pulled himself back into a ball. "We're slaves." I pointed to his shackles then to the collar on my neck.

Footsteps brought our attention to the bars where several dark robed men stood. Each of them were holding trays with...something on them. "Dinner time slaves." One of them said as the bars opened. They put down the trays on the floor and left quickly closing the cell door behind them. Curiosity got us as we made our way to the trays to see what was on them. Each tray had a square piece of bread and some form of white colored paste that looked like oatmeal. And from the smell it probably wouldn't taste like it. One of the trays held some raw meat on it and was off to one side. That evidently was for me since out of us in this cell only I could eat raw meat.

"What is this stuff?" Kayla commented drawing my attention to her. She moved around the oatmeal like substance on the tray with a spoon.

"It's what they give us for food." A female commented making me look to the back corner of the stone part of the cell wall. From that corner an adult female stood up and retrieved a tray. She ate the bread square first then tipped the try so she could guzzle down the paste like it was tasty.

The rest of us looked at each other then tried a bite of the white substance. The taste was like biting into an apple only to get the rotted part. I spit it out coughing followed by the others. "How to hell are we supposed to eat it if it tastes this bad?" I asked putting down the spoon and going for the meat.

"It's not so bad once you get over the taste." The woman said shaking her head. "It may taste bad but it gives us what we need to keep working."

"Maybe this will be better..." I muttered and took a bite of the meat. Thankfully it was a lot better than the paste, but it wasn't as good as it could be. The meat wasn't fresh and had been dried if the amount of salt on it was anything to go by.

"You must be a Void Demon to be able to eat like that." The woman said.

I nodded. "Yeah." I added moving my stump of an arm to show her the visible blood.

"I see." She replied with a small smile. "I'm Emma."

"I'm Kayla and the other two are Ryan and Aether." Kayla said pointing to each of us.

"Get some sleep, the morning comes early." Emma said laying down near Ryan. The pink eyed human seemed to calm down and went to sleep next to her. Kayla glanced at me and I shrugged. We girls went to sleep next to each other with Kayla at my back so she couldn't get my blood on her.

Just as Emma had mentioned the morning came early. The slavers came with staffs and dragged us away to different areas. For those who didn't wake up when they asked a painful electric shock awaited them. I was separated from the others by two of the slavers whom guided me down a number of hallways then into a mess of tunnels that were lit by torches.

"Since your arm isn't fully regenerated you'll be mining, but once it is you'll be moving stones like the others." One of them mentioned before kicking me in the back. I was sent face first into a stone before something landed next to me. Getting off the wall I spotted a mining pick. I grabbed it with my only hand eyeing the two men.

"Don't bother little demon." The taller of the two said before one of those demon dogs stopped at his feet. "This demon dog will shred you before you can get anywhere near us." Between the two he seemed more dangerous, though with my ability to sense magic canceled by the collar it was impossible to know for sure. The shorter slaver was a fat man who could be in his forties if the gray peppered beard was any indication.

With a huff I turned to face the rock and readied a strike. Right then a pulse of electricity went through me causing me to grit my teeth. I fell to a knee but didn't make much of a sound. I waited a few seconds then stood up and got to work chipping away stone from tunnel walls with a pick held in one arm. The day was grueling and long with only a few breaks for water. By the end of the day my arm had completely regenerated and the new hand worked just as well as the one I had used all day. The two from earlier escorted me back to the cell I had spent the night in previously.

"Your back!" Kayla called pouncing me with a hug.

"Yeah, and tired." I yawned hugging her back with both arms.

Kayla stepped out of the hug before grabbing my right arm. "Wow." She commented. "It's like you never lost part of your arm."

"Dinner time!" A slaver called as he walked past with a group of men holding trays. As expected it was the same garbage as last night, though I didn't have to eat the paste to be fine. Unfortunately for the humans in the cell they had to. The same process occurred for the next two weeks, with the little exception of me working with the other kids. It was just as tiring as picking away in the underground tunnels but I was working in open air at least. The kids basically moved around rocks from large piles onto carts that were pulled by adults to who knows where. I had been electrocuted more times then I could count for pissing off the slavers either by being distracted or for not working fast enough.

"Are you okay Aether?" Ryan asked making me look at him. The boy had lost some weight but had started to turn some of what remained into muscle, though he looked thin anyway. "You have been shocked more times then I can count."

"I'm fine." I grumbled rubbing a hand over my arms barely feeling the scrapes and little cuts from the rocks. There was also some light burns from the number of times I got shocked. I had been working with a group of Void Demons moving really sharp rocks to carts. Those slavers were a smart bunch. They had the demons who regenerated move rocks because we could recover from the damage caused by them easily unlike humans.

I saw movement behind Ryan and my eyes found Kayla moving slowly to the far corner from us, near one section of the bars. She gripped the metal bars as if her life was depending on it, then she puked. I winced at how violent it sounded. Ryan quickly went over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. Kayla didn't even lift her head for several minutes as she attempted to empty her stomach of whatever it had, even when there was nothing left.

"Poor girl." Emma said making me glance to my right to find her sitting down with an empty tray in front of her. "She was too hungry and ate your tray by mistake."

"Damn." I grunted. Well there goes my dinner for the night. "Think she'll be alright?"

"Ugh." Kayla muttered shaking a little. "I don't feel good." She added then Ryan helped her away from the bars to the far corner and sat with her. She looked green in the face and a little pale.

"I hope so." Emma replied then a grunt drew our attention to the bars.

"We just cleaned this cell earlier today." One of three slavers said shaking his head. "Which one of you meat sacks dirtied the floor?"

"It was you wasn't it kid?" Another asked pointing at Kayla. "You'll be punished for that mess you made." He added opening the cell door. They took a few steps and I charged them landing a solid punch on the first guy to enter. He fell down like a sack of bricks and I moved on going for the next guy. He began moving his staff so I shoulder slammed his family jewels. As expected he went down just as quickly squealing as he held his crotch.

I looked to the third man just before something hit me in the jaw. I bounced back from the bars of my cell to see that it was a staff. The man readied it for another strike and attacked. I ducked under it and swiped his feet out from under him. Once he hit the ground I hammered a kick to his throat that resulted in a sickening crack accompanied by blood shooting forth from his mouth.

"Impressive." A cold voice commented with a slow clap. I turned to face its owner only to freeze with fear. It was the same man whom blew off part of my arm with a single spell. Unlike the last time this man was dressed in very different clothing from the other slavers. His clothing was primarily black with hints of red and the cult symbol present on his chest. On his head was a hat that looked similar to a ship captain's hat which was black. He sported a trench coat that was black on the outside and red inside that covered a black shirt. At his waist was a sword and pistol. Black pants and reddish leather boots completed his attire. "I have a reward for you demon." He added as I stood there watching seven cultists come to pick up their fellow members and to close the cell door. "Follow me." He commanded and began walking.

"Get moving!" One cultist barked kicking me forward. I got up on my feet and followed the man I could describe with one word: evil. He was at the front of our group with me in the center surrounded by cultists. I looked around as we walked going through parts of the work area. In some parts I could see grating which would more than likely be for venting of some sort. Those quickly passed as we went to the underground tunnels to another open area. Like the one above it was spacious and lit through torches. Cultists lined the room with some standing while others were in chairs.

Why would they be sitting around? Someone pulled on my hair yanking me out of my thoughts and stopping me form running into the evil man's legs.

"This is The Pit." The evil man explained.

I knew he had some sort of rank here, but what was it? Commander? Captain? _Damn it._ I thought. _I can't remember what they called him._

"Your reward is to fight in here for our amusement."

"What?" I muttered as my eyes went wide. The next moment exploded with electricity. I let out a grunt but that was it.

"Seems like she's a resilient one Commandant." One cultist commented as I saw him study me out of the corner of my eye.

 _So that's what they call him_. I mused in my head.

A dark chuckle echoed from The Commandant. "Agreed." I saw him turn around and unlock the collar on my neck, taking it off. He stepped aside then I was shoved forward. I fell into The Pit a good distance and landed hard. I grunted standing up already feeling my back become sore. I looked around the room to see about a dozen others in The Pit along with myself. The Pit itself was a sheer drop and more or less rectangular and flat.

"Looks like we have some fresh meat." Someone commented from one side of The Pit. With the collar off I could feel that every one of us here was a Void Demon. I could feel a barrier at the top of The Pit where the cultists were.

"Demons of the Void..." The voice of The Commandant echoed as if he were using a microphone. "Only the last one standing will leave The Pit." There was a pause before a buzzer sounded and the bloodshed began.

Footsteps brought my attention to an adult charging me with a fist ready to strike me. I could sense Void Magic all around me, so that had to mean we could use magic. I readied my own strike and threw a punch as him. " **Void Demon's Fist**." I said as our fists collided creating a small shock wave that went out from us. There was resistance at first then my left fist went through the arm of the male eliciting a scream as blood sprayed over our forms. He fell to one knee clutching the wrist of the hand I had destroyed.

Angry eyes focused on my form before his destroyed hand extended out into a blade of sorts. " **Void Blade**." The man growled as blood dripped from the wound. He slashed at me catching my shoulder making me hiss. He scored two more slices on my left leg and right cheek.

He readied for another slash aiming to cut me in half. I crossed my arms over my head to protect me from his attack. " **Void Barrier**." I muttered and like before the dome of protective Void energy materialized. I felt the weight of the attack before it broke again with the man screaming. I inhaled then breathed out. " **Void Demon's Roar**!" I bellowed as my attack passed through the barrier and hit the male. Once the smoke cleared I saw a burnt corpse from the waist down. My stomach rumbled reminding me I hadn't eaten. Without warning a body came flying past me and crashed into the wall with a sickening crunch. The body slumped down onto the floor limp with broken limbs and blood leaking form various cuts all over it. I licked my lips then changed form to that a humanoid lizard and took a single bite of flesh.

Surprisingly the flesh didn't tastes horrible, nor did it feel wrong. I knew what I was doing would be labeled cannibalism by humans, but at the moment I didn't care. I felt power grow within me and my slices regenerated in moments before my eyes. _Interesting...If I eat flesh from other Void Demons I grow in power and heal my wounds._ I thought risking a glance to see several others doing the same. Time to finish my meal. Within a minute I had picked the bones of the body more or less clean and charged into the renewed bloodbath. I don't know how much time passed by as us Void Demons killed and ate each other for the amusement of the cultists up top. In the end the Pit was covered with bright blue blood giving off a faint glow to the place, and I was the last one standing with numerous cuts and scrapes on my form.

"You are something else little demon." The Commandant said making me look up to see him smiling. That smile sent shivers down my spine. "Since you are the last one left alive you will get to leave the Pit."

A grinding noise sounded to my left where a portion of the wall slid down to reveal a passage way where two cultists exited. They motioned for me to follow them and I did so. As soon as I got close to them one put the collar back on my neck. They led me through a number of hallways before stopping at a wooden door bordered in metal with lots of metal studs. One cultist opened the door ans shoved me inside before closing it.

"Your the winner of the last Pit Fight?" A female commented making me turn around to face her. The woman in front of me looked like she could be in her forties or maybe early fifties. Long gray hair cascaded down her body in slight waves that seemed to match her aged face. Blue eyes looked over me carefully as if looking for major damage.

"Who are you?" I growled clenching a fist.

"The woman in charge of cleaning the kids who come out of the Pit Fights." She answered not showing any sign that she was going to attack me. " Come over here young one and I'll clean you of the blood." She added gesturing me towards the tub that rested behind her. The tub was fairly large and made of stone with a simple faucet that the older woman turned on. I brushed a hand through my hair feeling it snag on several parts though I pulled it through anyway. I looked at my hand to see dried blood on it. With a sigh I took off the remains of the over sized shirt that was my clothing letting it fall to the floor.

"How often do they do Pit Fights?" I asked stretching my arms over my head feeling my back pop.

"Once a month." The woman supplied. "The water is ready." She added turning to me.

I climbed in the tub wincing as the hot water stung my open cuts. The hot water worked nicely on my muscles to loosen them up. I dunked my head under the water feeling some of the blood start to come loose from my hair. I surfaced with a need for air before fingers began to massage my head.

"Its remarkable that a five year old like yourself is a winner of their first Pit Fight." She mused massaging my head and slowly getting out the blood from my hair, which was starting to dye the water a tiny bit blue. It wasn't long before I heard humming from the woman washing my.

"Why are you humming?"

"Just thinking about your future." She replied.

"Why mine and not yours?" I asked as her fingers stopped.

I heard a sigh. "I'm fifty six and slowly dying of disease. I don't have the strength to leave this place and keeping young Void Demons like you clean is something I can do that makes me happy."

"I see." I commented as her fingers began moving again.

"I can see that you'll grow up to be a head turner with red hair like yours."

I turned to look over my shoulder. "It's red?"

She nodded holding some of it so I could see, and sure enough it was a bright crimson red, like fresh blood. I guess that was something I never really paid attention to before. "I know you will be able to escape from here sometime in the future."

A few minutes later I was out of the tub and drying off. She seemed to have a smile on her face the whole time. Does everyone not hate my kind? "Do you hate Void Demons or fear them?"

She put her hands on my shoulders. "I do not fear your kind nor do I hate them. Although Void Demons can do may things humans can't they behave the same way and are affected by what's around them in the same manor that humans are." With that I finished drying off and left the room dressed in another slave outfit, one that wasn't torn from battle, and was escorted away to the Commandant. He again led me down more hallways than I could keep track of to a large circular room with a blue crystal formation on one side and a metal cross stuck in the floor.

"Welcome to the torture chamber." The Commandant said. I turned to face him wide eyed before receiving a kick to the face. I flipped over and landed face first onto the floor. A number of hands grabbed me and chained me to the metal cross. "You will spend some time in here for experimentation." He left shortly after that but the three lackeys with him didn't.

"Normally electrocution is enough to hurt and motivate slaves, but not you it would seem." The middle of the three spoke. "Lets see how we can make you scream." I was in that room for a long time. They did all sorts of spells from electricity to fire and many others. I was used to the electricity to a degree and the intense voltage hurt like hell but I only grunted with gritted teeth. Fire on the other hand was what got me screaming. They set my arms and legs on fire and watched them burn before electrocuting me repeatedly. I lost consciousness only to wake up later when they sawed off my arms from just below the shoulder. At that point I wasn't seeing things clearly and they moved me around. The three carried me to some part of the tower I could tell was for slaves with the cells, but it was blurry. They stopped in front of one before opening it and throwing me inside. I heard the cell door lock as I hit the floor and passed out.

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There is only one more chapter dealing with the tower of heaven for now. Enjoy until next chapter.


	3. Freedom's Price

Here is the next installment of Void Warrior. Thanks for those of you who have followed and or Favorited this story and or me. In the last chapter I said there was a reference villain who also appears in this chapter. I wrong described what the man looks like from the game (but I got his name right) I'm giving it to you: The Commandant from Fable 2 in the Tattered Spire. If you guys wish I can give you readers the a list of all the ladies that will be a part of Aether's harem at the end of the next chapter. Now onto the story...

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Intense pain was the first thing that greeted me as I came to. I coughed a little feeling blood come up. I swallowed my blood and cleared my throat then opened my eyes. Brown orbs stared into mine that were framed by red hair, similar to mine. She looked no older than me, but something about her was familiar.

"You're awake." She noted not breaking eye contact.

"Obviously." I grumbled.

A chuckle sounded off to my right drawing my attention. "Give her some space Erza." The old man I saw said as the red head I had seen earlier backed off a few steps. "Are you thirsty?" He asked calmly.

I licked my lips finding them dry. I nodded my head slowly to let him know. He moved over towards me holding a small cup of water that he poured into my mouth. I happily gulped down the liquid feeling a little better. "Thanks." I rasped.

"You can call me Grandpa Rob." The old white bearded man said putting a hand on his chest. "The one who stared at you was Erza, and the other two here are Simon and Jellal." He explained causing my eyes to go wide.

Holy shit! I was locked in the same cell as Erza and the others so this should be interesting to say the least. But with me in this world I knew things will be different. Hell, they already were with the Pit Fights and Void Demons. Maybe I could put my knowledge of future events to good use?

"What's your name?" Erza said leaning close to my face.

I narrowed my eyes at her and she backed up. "Aether." I answered. Something didn't quite feel right causing me to look at my arms. Both of them were missing from not much under the shoulder. I started shaking at the sight and tears formed in my eyes. I knew my arms would grow back but it still hurt to be made powerless like this. I hung my head and cried letting the pain surface that I had been holding in for some time. It was a reminder that even if I had the mind of an adult, I was still a child growing up in a cruel environment. I felt a hand land on my shoulder in a comforting manor and knew it was Grandpa Rob.

After a number of minutes had passed in relative silence I felt Grandpa Robs fingers clear my tears for me. "Would you like to hear a story Aether?"

"Story time!" Erza cheered causing me to look up to see a big smile on her face. She sat down near Grandpa Rob followed by the two boys before they turned to me.

A small smile worked its way onto my lips. "Yes." With that the old man gave a nod and launched into one of his stories about his younger days in Fairy Tail. Despite the hell we were all in we enjoyed his story about Makarov and the others going off on some crazy adventure.

The next six years went by quickly as we grew and slaved away at the tower. By this time Sho, Millianna, and Wally had been with us for two years. Those three looked up to Simon, Erza, Jellal, and me as their big siblings. I was dragged down to the Pit every month for Pit Fights for the Commandant's amusement, as well as the cultists who ran the tower. I never lost a single one of those with only a few being close calls. And as I had figured out years ago I got stronger by eating my fellow Void Demons, though I wasn't sure if that power and sped up regeneration was tied to the blood or the flesh. However I was usually tossed into there hungry so I just went for the flesh.

My stomach rumbled as I smelled raw meat coming down the hall. A group of cultists dropped off trays for all of us. They grabbed their trays leaving the last one for me. I ignored the paste to get the meat. I took my tray over by Erza who hadn't touched her food yet.

"You alright?" I asked gesturing to the tray in front of her.

Erza glanced at me then back to the floor. "I want to experience the adventures that Grandpa Rob talks about."

"So do I." I said finishing one piece of meat, while the second one rested on the tray.

"Do either of you have a last name?" Wally asked as he came over to us.

I sighed. This wasn't the first time he had asked us this question, nor was he the only one. Millianna had also questioned Erza and me about it. "We don't have one little brother."

"You two have to have last names." Jellal commented coming over to us along with Simon and Millianna. I watched him as he studied Erza first generating a pink hue on her cheeks from how closely he was looking at her.

"Scarlet." Jellal and I said at the same time. Erza looked between the two of us confused.

"Your last name will be Scarlet because of the color of your hair." Jellal explained before looking my way with a sigh. "It doesn't help that you have the same color hair Aether."

I grinned. "I was born that way."

"You okay Erza?" Millianna asked seeing the red head staring at some of her hair that she held.

Erza smiled. "Erza Scarlet..." The red head commented. "I like it."

"Now we need to come up with a last name for you." Jellal said pointing at me.

I groaned. "Do we really have to come up with one for me?"

"Why not?" Grandpa Rob commented so I looked over to him. The old man had a smile on his face. "You could be even more beautiful with a last name."

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out as a blush worked its way onto my cheeks. This was one of the few times they had managed to make me blush. "Fine." I muttered looking away from the others.

"Grandpa Rob made Aether blush!" Sho cheered as I heard a high five. I swear it was like a challenge for these guys.

I focused on eating my food which over the years was pretty much only meat. Once it was gone I looked around to see that everyone had finished their food. Jellal came over and drew in a series of lines on the floor with a finger in the form of a tic tack toe system. The blue haired human motioned me over so I walked over to him.

"I challenge you Aether." Jellal said gesturing to the game "board" he drew.

I sighed but sat down on the opposite side from him. "You do realize I have more wins then you right?"

"52-48." Jellal answered.

I had won this particular game 52 times while Jellal had beaten me 48 times, however most of theses games ended in draws. The others had by this point agreed that I was the smartest one in our cell followed by Jellal. They also had agreed that I was better at games like this for the most part. "Your move."

Jellal made a circle in the square closest to his right. I put a X above his circle. He followed suit with a circle to the left of it. I cut off his three circle line with an X. Jellal hummed in thought as he looked at the board so far. He put a circle in the middle and I put a X above my second one. He put a circle to the left most square closest to me. I smirked putting a final X on the column to my right.

"My win." I said as Jellal groaned. "You would have won the round if you had actually put the circle in the middle column."

Fun was cut short by the arrival of cultists whom led us to our wok area. As usual over the years I was put to work moving around the bladed rocks which were close to the pile that Sho, Simon, and Jellal worked at. Whenever I got a chance to look over to the blue haired boy I could see him stare at something and get back to moving stones before he could get zapped by the patrolling cultists. As I got close to Sho's rock pile his foot slipped causing him to fall. The kid caught himself but the rock he held shifted the ones above it. I tossed the sharp rock I had been carrying onto the nearby cart and moved to block the fall of rocks.

I let out a grunt as several hit and one actually drew blood, though Sho himself was safe. One of the patrolling cultists spotted me and came over not looking thrilled.

"What's going on Void Demon?" He asked looking between Sho and me.

I reached behind me to pull out the rock that had made me bleed. "A mishap." I explained staring him in the eyes. Those eyes stared back into mine. "He slipped so I blocked some falling rocks to prevent injuries. Don't want to have your slaves get too hurt right?" The cultist snorted and left us to continue his patrol. I guess being the favorite demon of The Commandant has its perks. "Try not to slip again Sho." I said quietly getting a nod from him before I went back to work going in and out of the labyrinth of razor sharp rocks. Not long after that a bell sounded signaling the end of the work day. We went back to the cell for the night already finding Grandpa Rob there. I guess he worked closer to the cell than us kids did.

"I've been thinking about a last name for you Aether." Simon commented making me look in his direction. He sat cross legged with a hand on his chin. "I've seen you wade through the bladed rocks a lot and not really care."

I Shrugged. "It doesn't bother me because I can regenerate, though I'm not impervious to getting cut from those." I said holding up my arm to show a maze of lines on my forearm that I had gotten earlier from those bladed rocks.

Simon nodded. "Because you can go through those rocks I thought Wade sounded good for a last name..." He trailed off as his cheeks had a faint red hue to them. The black haired boy also looked away from me to the dirt floor.

That was new. I couldn't help the grin that came to my lips. Simon had a crush on me and I knew he had one on Erza already, if his off to the side staring at the redhead was indication. "Wade..." I paused. "Perfect." I added making him smile.

"I have an idea of how to get off this island." Jellal said making us look at him. We went over to him to see what he had to say. "They use ships to bring supplies to the island. I overheard that a new shipment of supplies will arrive tomorrow."

"How will we get to the ships Jellal?" I asked drawing attention to me. "The cultists won't sit back and let us run wild."

Jellal put a hand on his chin. "There are vents all over this tower." He supplied. "We can use one of those to get to the ships."

I nodded and the group split up for the night. Erza came over and sat down by me. I watched Jellal stare at the ground in thought. Would his plan actually work? Would he turn traitor and try to kill Erza like I knew happened in the series? With a grunt I looked away from him. This wasn't the show, it was the world I now lived in. I noticed Erza looking between me and Jellal, then her eyes settled on me.

A red hue worked its way onto her cheeks. "Do you like Jellal Aether?"

I raised an eye brow. "Where did that come from?"

Erza looked away from me as her face became as red as her hair. "I just see you looking at him a lot and I thought..." She trailed off.

I smirked. "Maybe." I answered making her whip her head to me. "I have a feeling that he will be quite nice to look at in the future." Surprise and embarrassment dominated her face and I let out a laugh. She pouted looking me in the eyes. "I'm kidding about liking him." I explained. How could I explain that I knew Jellal might betray us in the near future? Or that his escape plan might fail?

"Oh." Erza commented letting her shoulders fall. "I'm going to sleep Aether." She added and laid down on the floor where she had been sitting. A few minutes later the rest of us followed suit.

Sleep came more quickly than I anticipated. At first I dreamed of an empty void before it was suddenly filled with fire and screams of people, and burnt bodies of those in the wrong place at the wrong time. After that it transitioned to the Pit Fights one right after another. The last image that flashed through my mind before waking up was a time I had nearly died from a Void Sword in my chest. I woke up instantly covered in sweat.

"Another nightmare?" Grandpa Rob asked from the side. I guess he had been watching me once again.

I ran a hand through my hair that more or less reached the middle of my back. "Yeah."

"What was this one about?"

"Gruen where I was captured. Then it went to every Pit Fight I've been in ending with one of the fights I nearly died in." I explained looking through the bars to a rectangle that held a small view of outside. In it I could see the night stars like a brilliant untarnished canvas. Regardless of the fact I was a slave in this tower that tiny spec of the night sky calmed me whenever I woke up from a nightmare.

"I see." He commented with a sad tone in his voice. "Try to get some sleep."

I nodded but stared at the tiny spec of the night sky. "Do you know what Void Demon blood does to the human body?"

Grandpa Rob took a deep breath then let it out. "It can heal humans and mages if they are compatible with the blood. If they aren't, it kills them." He replied.

That's troubling. If any of them ever got my blood into their system would they live to tell the tale or would it kill them? I didn't know and that scared me. I lazily scratched the collar around my neck. This thing was always on when I wasn't fighting in the Pit and it sealed away my Void Demon powers completely. I had tried nearly everything I could think of to get it off, which had earned me a few trips to the torture chamber. If Jellal's plan was to be a success I'd need to have this thing off my neck somehow. With a sigh I let my head rest against the stone wall of the cell and closed my eyes.

I awoke to someone shaking my shoulder finding it to be Jellal. "What?" I muttered yawning.

"Time to escape." He said quietly dangling a key in front of my face. I nodded then we left the cell as quietly as we could. Going slow the seven of us made our way to the open cavern where we moved stones. Jellal went over to the pile he normally worked at and pulled on something. Not long after that he put down whatever he had pulled motioning us over. It was one of the vent holes of the tower and each of us climbed into it. Jellal was first followed by Simon, Wally, Sho, Millianna, Erza, and me at the end. The vent had just enough room for me to turn around and place the vent cover back on.

Maybe it would give us some more time if they thought we weren't in the vents. We traveled for a few minutes with only a tiny bit of noise from our knees. The others a head of me stopped then moved. We exited a vent at some place I vaguely remembered as somewhere near the docks.

Something felt odd as I looked around. Where the hell were the cultists? "Something isn't right." I commented making them look at me. "Where are all the cultists? They patrol just about every area in regular intervals." I paused poking my head around a corner. Even down that hallway I didn't see any sign of a cultist or one of their demon dogs. "Yet we haven't seen a single one nor one of their demon dogs."

Erza started to look defeated and afraid. "Why aren't they here?"

"I don't know." Simon commented.

"Let's continue." Jellal said then I focused my eyes on him.

"No." I hissed. "You'll lead us into a trap."

Dark laughter echoed from all around us. "You are a sharp one, my demon."

"Fuckballs." I cursed drawing their attention. "The Commandant was waiting for us."

The man in question seemed to materialize from thin air in front of us with a group of cultists. "What an...interesting word." He commented absently. "Now, which one of you kids thought this escape up?" None of us spoke for a time and The Commandant sighed. "If you don't say who I'll have all of you go to the torture chamber."

"I came up with the plan." Jellal said pulling out the key he had snagged from his shorts pocket. He let it fall on the ground with a determined stare directed at The Commandant.

"I see you also took our key." The Commandant said shaking his head. "Take him and the redhead."

The cultists didn't move and looked at their leader. "Which one?" They collectively asked.

"The human." The Commandant replied.

As soon as the cultists started moving Jellal leaped forth and attacked the nearest one sending him to the floor. As if it was a signal the others also attacked except for me and Erza. The human redhead was stunned at the action but also scared by the sheer fact The Commandant was here. I had told them all how scary that bastard was and that he was the one who organized the Pit Fights every month. He was also one of the cultists who tortured me, usually by severing my limbs with molten blades.

It was then that more cultists showed up and something tackled me to the ground then razor sharp teeth bit into my flesh. I let out a hiss knowing what it was; one of the cultist's demon dogs. I felt the thing lean on me intending to keep me in place. I looked up to see the others shocked from electrocution spells and The Commandant walking away with a terrified Erza in his arms.

"Let me go!" Jellal growled as two cultists carried him away following where The Commandant went. After that we were led back to our cell and locked in it once again. I softly punched the wall feeling pissed off. I knew it was a trap yet we bloody well walked right into it. Glancing at the others I saw that Simon was quiet, Sho was curled into a ball crying next to Millianna who was also crying.

"I'm glad you kids are okay." Grandpa Rob said as he came over to kneel by Sho and Millianna. "But where are Erza and Jellal?"

"Taken." Simon answered.

"The Commandant somehow knew that we would try to escape and waited for us to show up." I growled then sighed. Now wasn't the time for anger. "He took both of them as punishment for stealing a key and coming up with an escape plan."

Grandpa Rob's shoulder's slumped a little. "I see." he commented.

"Is big sister Erza and big brother Jellal going to be okay?" Millianna sniffed looking at me hopefully.

Honestly I wasn't entirely sure either of them would be okay. I wasn't normally one to lie, but seeing Millianna's scared teary eyed face hurt. For her sake I let a small smile grace my lips. "I'm sure Erza will be fine. She is as tough as I am and Jellal will be okay too." I glanced to my left to see Simon looking in my direction. He didn't look like he believed me, but for Millianna's sake he probably wasn't going to say anything.

Two days later Erza was brought back to the cell and at the same time I was escorted out for the monthly Pit Fight. Going down the familiar halls we reached the Pit, though one thing was odd. The Commandant was absent as I didn't see him anywhere. Why would he be gone for a Pit Fight I was participating in? He always watched my fights as I was his favorite Void Demon. On the way through the halls to the bottom of the Pit I thought about the collar around my neck. There was one thing I hadn't tried yet...

 _Collar of binding, release me._ I thought. Hell it might do something. Without warning the collar loosened and came off much to my surprise. I smirked and turned around hammering the cultist behind me with a Void charged fist. I felt the crack of his bones breaking and heard the sound clearly. The body crashed into the wall limp. I made my way onto the Pit after destroying the secret door. The Void Demons looked at me surprised then I charged them. Within minutes I had killed them all and feasted on them empowering myself.

I went back through the doorway I had destroyed and worked my way to the cavern. Once there everyone looked at me startled. No one moved for some time until several cultists charged forward getting ready to swing their weapons at me. " **Void Demon's Roar**!" I hollered obliterating the cultists and burning whatever my roar of void magic touched. The slaves looked at me still shocked. "Freedom will never come if we don't fight for it." I said to them as they looked between each other. "Stand up and fight for your freedom!" I added raising a fist into the air.

"Time to claim our freedom!" One of the slaves shouted raising a hand in their air. Then the other slaves did the same as the remaining cultists looked worried.

A wave of cultists charged at me from my left side and I smirked. " **Void Demon's sword**." I said doing a spinning kick extending my foot as a blade of void energy. It sliced the crowd of cultists in half. I charged my way through as an alarm sounded. I killed every cultist who ran into me without mercy letting my hatred of them fuel my power. I worked my way to the cells where I had been living for years.

As soon as I stood in front of my cell Sho and Milliana shouted. "Aether!"

I extended my arms as Void blades and sliced the bars of the doors to the cells on both sides of the hall. "We have to fight for our freedom or we won't get it." I explained as Erza looked at me surprised like Simon. I shook my head and handed the redhead a sword from a fallen cultist near my feet. As it was Erza and me made our way back to the cavern where an army of cultists waited for us with a few that were on flying discs. I knew those were the combat mages of the cult. Behind Erza and I were the slaves partaking in the revolt and a few Void Demons I hadn't killed.

"Slaughter the cultists!" I roared pointing at the enemy. At my command the slaves charged only to be blasted by magic from the cult's mages. At that they faltered and ran except for the Void Demons who accepted the challenge. We rushed forward launching various attacks.

"Don't run!" I heard Erza say tentatively while the Void Demons and I had a battle with the mages of the cult that was very one sided. It wasn't long before their broken bodies landed on the floor and we Void Demons had some human flesh in our stomachs, though that was mostly the others.

"Erza!" I called getting the redhead's attention. She wasn't far from me but the fighting was loud. Just then I noticed more cultists show up. "We need to free Jellal!" She nodded before the cult's mages unleashed a barrage of magic upon us. They caught us off guard so Erza and me stood there. Before the blast of combined magic could hit us Grandpa Rob dashed in front of us.

My jaw hung open as Grandpa Rob took the blast of magic for us. "Remember that freedom lies in your hearts." Those were the last words he said before his body broke apart and the symbol of Fairy Tail burned into my mind. I fell to my knees witnessing the death of one of the most important people of my life. Rage boiled in my blood as power swelled up from somewhere within me. I glanced to my left to see Erza on her knees and felt magic in the air. The various weapons on the ground around her hovered up into the air before catapulting towards the line of cultists ahead of us. The amount of power coming from her small body was impressive, though I had a feeling I could match her any day.

That was also when I noticed the eye patch over her right eye. Damn they took out her eye like in the series. I shook my head and focused on the task ahead of us. Clearing out the remaining cultists and freeing Jellal. The cultists were chump change with the Void Demons besides me, then evil incarnate made an appearance. The Commandant appeared out of thin air before us.

"So you discovered the weakness of the collar?" The Commandant asked pulling out his rapier and pistol.

"It's quite clever really." I commented summoning void energy around my form, tapping into the well of power within me. I saw Erza take a step back out of the corner of my eye as if she hadn't expected the amount of power I summoned. "It responded to thought commands. If the salves are too afraid to think they won't come to that conclusion."

"You were always different little demon." The Commandant said making me raise an eye brow. "No matter how many times I or the others cut off your limbs or tortured you your will did not break. Nor did you ever loose a single Pit Fight against your own kind."

I stared into his cold green eyes feeling fear gnaw at me, but I ignored it. "That's because I have something to live for." I said then charged forward inhumanly quick. I threw a left hook at him hitting his rapier and shattering it in one go. I didn't care that it drew blood and landed on the floor following up with a roundhouse kick to his leg. The Commandant jumped backwards a few yards avoiding it. Erza charged in from behind slicing at him horizontally.

The Commandant rolled out of the way aiming the pistol at me. He fired off a round that I narrowly dodged. I jabbed forward with an elongated void fist breaking the weapon forcing him to let go of the ruined handle. We stayed there for a few minutes waiting for the other to make a move. He raised a hand summoning an explosion at my feet. I rolled over to the left dodged it ending next to the human redhead.

"Let's take this bastard together Erza Scarlet." I said then she nodded readying her sword and shield.

"Come then, and test your might!" The Commandant commented raising his hands before they started glowing with flames. " **Brilliant flames**." In a flash fire erupted near us so we rolled out of the way. I was quick enough to avoid the entire spell but Erza's shield took the blast and crumbled into dust. Fire danced at The Commandant's command rushing for Erza who stood there not sure what to do. I spotted a shield next to my feet that was intact and kicked it towards The Commandant. The Commandant leaned out of the way of the shield, avoiding it.

" **Void Barrier**." I called focusing the energy around Erza who gasped at the sudden appearance. However the shield held with the flames bouncing off harmlessly. In a flurry I sprinted around grabbing weapons on the floor before throwing them at The Commandant. His brows furrowed in slight irritation or anger as he dealt with the weapons I threw at him by burning or avoid them. I stopped behind a rock pile feeling heat from the other side of it. Evidently he had thrown fire at me. " **Void Mines**." I muttered placing a hand flat on the floor. At the same time I felt Erza charge through the barrier I had conjured to protect her accompanied by a fierce battle cry.

I picked up another shield that was lying on the floor and peaked around the edge of the rock pile. Erza took a swing with one sword at The Commandant who stepped out of the attack. She followed up with another swing that cut his leg, but didn't slow the man down. His right fist started coming down engulfed in flames so I threw the shield at him. The object smashed into his forearm diverting the blow away from Erza. With a snap of his fingers an explosion of fire occurred right under the redhead's feet. She was sent flying backwards and fell hard onto the ground.

" **Void Demon's Halberd**!" I roared forming a large halberd in my hands before I threw it like a spear at The Commandant.

" **Crimson Firewall**." With that a wall of crimson colored flames rose up from the ground to form a sort of barrier that stopped the halberd. The halberd pushed and broke the wall to impact the ground next to him. It exploded shaking the area and knocking The Commandant back with blood dripping from one arm that hung limply at his side. The Commandant's face twisted into a feral roar as magic gathered around him. " **Brilliant Inferno**!" He said as fire erupted all around him charring the stone with ease. He took one step towards me before an explosion of void energy erupted from the ground.

I smirked as he was kicked back by one of the void mines I had conjured up. Getting back up The Commandant stepped on another mine causing a chain explosion. I ignored that and picked up the shield I had thrown at him to save Erza from a fiery hand. The object in question was burnt and barely holding together. I held a hand over the item then saw blood splash onto it, and got an idea. I grabbed a shard of metal and squeezed it over the outer part of the shield and focused void magic onto the item. The simple wooden shield absorbed the magic and blood like a sponge.

The shield glowed a soft purple black before it pulled itself apart and changed form at a single thought. It had taken the form of a larger shield that could hide my whole form if I ducked behind it. "Erza!" I called seeing the redhead limping to one side with blood on her legs and some on her chest. I ran towards her with the shield on my right arm then something came at me. I raised it up watching as a giant ball of fire bounced off the shield right back to its sender who howled in pain. "This is for you, but you need to let the shield absorb your blood so it is bound to your magic."

Erza looked at me and tilted her head. "How?"

"Let your blood fall onto its surface and it will absorb your blood because I will command my blood within this to do so." I explained and so she held her hand above it letting blood drip onto the shield. _Absorb the human's blood shield of the void_. I commanded mentally feeling the void magic respond to me, absorbing her blood. "This shield will use the power of the Void so it should hold up to any and all attacks."

"DO NOT THINK I AM DEAD!" The Commandant roared out reaching both his hands at me. " **Brilliant Detonation**!" The spell went off quicker than I thought generating a cloud of dust.

I let out a growl as I fell to the floor hearing Erza yell. "Aether!" I saw rage shine in her eyes before the redhead charged forward with magical power surging from her small form. The Commandant's attack managed to blow of my left arm and burned a good portion of my chest and legs. She stabbed The Commandant in the side with her weapon so I used that time to appear behind the human and stab an arm through his torso.

"I blew off your...left arm." The Commandant said choking on blood. He looked as surprised as Erza whom stared at my arm through his chest.

"You did." I confirmed. "Did you think I couldn't create a fake arm?" I added before the man's body went limp. Erza pulled her blade out of him and I shoved the corpse off my arm. With some concentration the void energy that had been a fake arm turned into flesh in a quick wave that traveled from my shoulder to my fingertips.

"Aether, we have to save Jellal." Erza said holding the void shield close to her with a pleading but determined look.

I was honestly hesitant with the knowledge that Jellal may have already fallen into darkness. At Erza's face I couldn't say no. "Alright, let's go." I said and the two of us made our way to one of the torture chambers where I could sense the blue haired boy. Any cultists that stood in our way met a swift end either by Erza's sword or by me. Jellal was chained onto the cross that I had been tortured on more times than I could count with his head down.

"Jellal." Erza called out to the boy as she freed him. He didn't respond at first then I felt darkness take hold of the room. That darkness held no real form to touch but it was there. That cloud of dark magical energy circled around me once and I followed it catching sight of Erza and Jellal doing the same. Then it funneled into the blue haired human making him scream. I untangled Erza from Jellal and held her back as he screamed and writhed on the floor. "What are you doing?" She asked me as fear filled her voice, though her eyes didn't leave the boy.

"Holding you back." I deadpanned. "I don't know what's happening to him."

After a few minutes Jellal stopped moving then got up onto his own feet. I sensed an impressive amount of power coming from him, along with the darkness. "That...hurt." Jellal commented then looked by the door. Me and Erza followed his gaze to two cultists we missed. I looked back to Jellal seeing a cruel grin on lips as he held out a hand towards the two. Magic exploded and vaporized one of them into dust and crushed the other one to death splattering the room with blood, which didn't reach us. "I'm glad you two are here."

I felt Erza start to shake in my arms and I narrowed my eyes at Jellal. "Are you ready to get off this island and leave its horrors behind?"

"Get off the island?" Jellal said, almost mockingly. He shook his head. "No. We don't have to go anywhere because freedom is right here." I saw his eyes and felt a sting in my chest. I may have liked him as a brother when Jellal was kind, but what I saw was something else. That child had died or was buried as we got there, and it hurt that I couldn't save him from this in the first place.

"You're mad." I growled summoning power to my right hand. "You are possessed by darkness Jellal. It is controlling you."

One of his hands that had been by his side shot up as magic shoved Erza away from me and brought me over to the enraged looking human. "Me mad? Controlled?" He repeated as rage oozed from his words. "You are the mad one!" Then a split second later something constricted my throat like a hand choking me. "I will complete the tower and resurrect Zeref so he can bring a new golden age to the world." I tried to grasp the magic choking me but all I felt was my own flesh. I growled focusing magic around my throat in an attempt to release the pressure.

"Jellal stop it!" Erza yelled pushing the blue haired boy making him realize that she was indeed still in the room. "You're hurting Aether!" There was a moment where his eyes changed to those that I had known for years. I felt the magic around me ease up and drop me so I took the opportunity to breath. I looked up to see the dark look in his eyes again, though this time it was Erza that he held.

"So you will betray me too?" Jellal asked then with a wave of his hand threw Erza into a nearby wall making a dent and knocking her out. Blood trickled down from her mouth as well as the other wounds already on her body.

"Jellal..." I hissed before jumping at him. I punched at him with my right arm smacking into a wall of magic that was around him like a protective cloud and sent him flying through a wall. I tapped the shield with my foot and it vanished to stay in some part of the void for the time being. I picked up the redhead and began to make my way to the boats. Just as I got to the open cavern where Erza and I killed The Commandant explosions rocked the tower along with screams. I heard those coming from the docks causing me to growl. _That bastard blew up the boats so we can't get off the island that easily._ I thought putting down Erza next to a wall feeling a well of power rushing towards me.

A wall of magic slammed into me like a fist launching me away from the unconscious Erza and into a wall. The stone crunched and cracked with my impact but I pounced right at the human who had attacked me. I missed with a punch he dodged out of so I spun and kicked him in the head launching him into a wall. He charged right out to me and the two of us exchanged blows bruising each other before I grabbed his head and smashed my knee into it drawing blood. He groaned holding his hands to his face so I took the opportunity and kicked him back from me a good distance. He landed on the ground limp so I started to walk towards Erza.

"AETHER!" Jellal roared sending a wave of magic directed at Erza sporting a cruel grin that looked wrong with the blood that ran from his noise. I dashed forward to the unconscious redhead but the magic slammed into her form and the wall gave out behind her to reveal the outer part of the island. She went over the edge coughing up a little blood.

" **Void Demon's Roar**!" I hollered aiming it for Jellal before diving over the edge after Erza. I reached her quickly grabbing her arm to twist her body so that I could take the damage of the fall. The ground hit not long after I shielded the human with my body. Pain was the first thing I felt after opening my eyes along with blood flowing from several injuries. I looked around to see a small crater that the two of us were in and I could hear the ocean very close by. I slowly sat up then magic took hold of my form like a lifting hand. "So you're...still alive." I said slowly through the pain before seeing Jellal who looked like a burn victim. From what I'd seen of my void demon magic it behaved like fire burning anything it touched, though it wasn't fire. I guess the power of the void withers away whatever it touches and with that roar it just looked the same as burning.

"Yes." Jellal growled and I saw his cloths were burnt with many small burns oozing blood at a slow rate and what burns weren't bleeding looked like they were going to be swollen blisters in a few hours. "I will let you two leave this tower, but I will take the others hostage." I glared at him before he coughed a few times. "There are some rules to be mindful of with your "freedom". If the magic council gets word of this I will kill every one here. And if you bring a guild to assault this tower I will kill them all." With that he lifted his out stretched arm over his head and Jellal's magic catapulted Erza and I into the ocean.


	4. Green Haired Battlemaster

here is the forth chapter of Void Warrior! there is a fourth wall moment in this chapter and I'll be putting more of them in when I feel like I can, since one of my friends likes those. I'm having a rough time with chapter 12 of Freezing: Wolf God so it will be a bit before that chapter arrives to this site. If you haven't given my RWBY fanfiction Conduit a look feel free to do so. I am almost done with the latest chapter for that story and it will be up soon. There is an attempt to explain why some mages of Fairy Tail like Gildarts or Erza have super strength while others do not It isn't perfect but it is the best I could come up with.

Ragna (Guest): as you rewuested the harem lest will appear at the end of this chapter. I am not intending on removing any of the females on the list nor adding any more to the list, though I am willing to listen to your ideas about the harem list in private messages.

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Lapping water and the calls of birds woke me up, so I lazily opened my eyes. What greeted them was a clear view of the night sky I had seen in the tower before the botched escape. A weight on my chest brought my eyes to an unconscious and bleeding Erza. I moved Erza off of me feeling something slide out of my body to find it was a chunk of sharp rock. Realization hit me when I saw where the thing was stuck through. I put my head to her chest hearing faint breathing and felt her body was cold, probably from the ocean we were right next to. I didn't know much about the human body in detail and there was only one thing I could think of that could help the human... But would she be compatible with it?

Grandpa Rob's words echoed in my head like thunder. _" It can heal humans and mages if they are compatible with the blood. If they aren't it kills them."_ I clenched a fist shaking my head hoping this wouldn't kill her. On instinct my fangs got a little longer than they normally were and I bit down on Erza's neck not getting a reaction from the human. I gripped the bloody stone impaled through Erza and yanked it loose then injected my blood into her system. I was operating on instinct and after some time I felt drained before I removed my mouth from her neck panting. I sat up using my arms as a brace to keep me from falling over onto the human. At first nothing happened as I watched her body causing me to huff then I heard a cough. I looked to her chest where the worst injury was to see the wound closing itself like my regeneration sped up.

I let myself fall back onto the sand smiling. I had saved her life more than once now, but what would happen after the healing? I glanced over to her to see color return to her form and her breathing became obvious. _I might have injected too much blood..._ I pondered. What would happen? Would she still be human or would the blood within her slowly turn Erza into a Void Demon? My stomach rumbled letting me know I was hungry. I would be surprised if Erza wasn't as well.

Getting up hurt as I looked over myself seeing injuries healing with a hole in my rib cage that was largely closed except for the skin covering. The beach we were at was really beautiful at night with the stars above and not far from the water's edge was a line of palm trees. I limped my way to the palm tress to look for something to eat, but none of the trees had anything on them. I looked back over my shoulder at Erza who slept on the sand beyond the reach of the ocean.

"I'll be back soon." I muttered and went through the trees to find a river with a forest on the other side. The river was clear with slow moving water though I had no idea if it was going to be cold or warm. I took off the tattered remains of my slave clothing and waded into the river. The water felt nice, though it was a little on the cold side. Licking my lips to find them dry I brought my head down to drink water. After a minute or so I stood back up and swam the short distance to the other side. The forest was teeming with life as crickets and other critters made noise as I walked into it. I stopped when a branch poked my chest from the side, which felt weird.

I looked down to see the tip of the branch pressing into the side of a breast. I snapped the branch with a hand then focused void energy around my form. I felt void energy engulf me then I focused my mind of a simple robe, hoping that the energy around me would actually form clothing. The warm shadows complied and I felt fabric fall lightly onto me. Bringing up my arms I saw violet cloth on me like a long sleeved robe that felt like velvet on my bare skin. For some time I trekked through the woods before finding something I could eat, a wild boar.

" **Void Demon's bow**." I whispered as a bow of void energy materialized in my right hand. Not the hand I had intended but oh well. I watched the boar drink form a small pond in front of it, so the creature stayed still. I pulled back the bowstring watching an arrow form then I let it go. The black and violet colored arrow soared through the air and burrowed into the boars head killing it quickly. Once the boar fell to the side the arrow that I had shot vanished from existence but not the hole it made in the boar's skull.

"Ah, hell." A male voice commented from somewhere nearby. "Someone stole my kill." I hid behind a tree trunk and peaked around it watching a male with long dark blue hair walk up to the boar's corpse. He had on black clothing consisting of rough jeans, boots, and a worn t-shirt. In the man's hands was a rifle which gave off magical energy that I could feel.

"What did ya find Drake?" Another male voice said. That man was a lumbering giant that stopped near the shorter man in black whom looked to be roughly in his mid thirties. The giant male was one I would call absolutely ugly due to the over sized muscles on his frame. This guy either had a serious insecurity issue or he liked to work out way too much. He only wore brown pants with boots of a matching color.

"A wild boar someone killed before I could shoot it." The man kneeling down, Drake, replied. He fixed his gaze at the hole in the boar's head as if he was studying it. "It was a magical arrow that killed this boar." He put a finger next to the hole then drew it back quickly. "Void magic..." I heard him comment.

"A Void Demon in these parts?" The big muscle guy commented almost making me let my mouth hang open. He was actually thinking! "If we find the demon the guild could be paid a lot."

A chill ran down my spine as I heard that. A guild making money off of a Void Demon? That sounded dark to me, so they are probably part of a dark guild. Perfect. The first thing I encounter after finding food is members of a dark guild. I kept quiet and focused my senses on the two in front of me. Both of them felt stronger than the mages of the tower cultists. I furrowed my brows may be strong but they didn't feel worse than The Commandant did. That bastard had been a tough one giving Erza and I a hard time.

"Already found." A voice commented behind me. I didn't jump but turned my head to see a woman standing there in a robe that clung to her form and showed a lot of her cleavage. Sapphire eyes watched me with no real indication of emotion and her raven colored hair ended at her shoulders. She grabbed the collar of my robe and pulled me to where the other two could see me. As soon as I let go of the bow it dissipated into thin air.

"That girl is a Void Demon?" The muscle guy said clearly sounding skeptical. "She looks normal."

Drake looked at me and shook his head. "I forget your completely colorblind sometimes." He muttered. "The girl's eyes are bright silver in color and are like those of a snake. The whole eye of a Void Demon has that color with a vertical slit for a pupil." Since I've never had a mirror I'd never seen what my eyes looked like, so this was handy info.

I grabbed the woman's narrow wrist with one hand, not quite encircling it. "Let go." I said waiting for a reply. She let go of the collar so I turned and threw the woman at the other two. The woman let out a surprised eep before landing in the muscle guy's arms. "Why do you three want me?" I asked as void energy appeared around my form to give a soft violet black glow.

"Well that definitely confirms it." The female commented as her feet touched the ground. "We and our guild members are paid to find Void Demons and half Void Demons."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Do you do that to sell us off as slaves?" I felt my blood grow hot. I will never be a slave again as long as I live! Despite the amount of blood I injected into Erza earlier I didn't feel weak, just the opposite.

Drake shook his head. "Please calm down." He said watching me and purposely putting the rifle he had down onto the ground.

"I'd sooner die then be a slave again!" I growled then inhaled. " **Void Demon's roar!** " A flash of surprise appeared on Drake's face before all I could see was the destructive void energy ripping apart whatever it touched. I looked over the charred area that had been a pond next to several trees, though they were now gone. My breath had carved out a section of the ground that went on for a while and was curved kinda like a half pipe for snowboarders, though a lot more flat.

"That was close." Drake commented as he and the other two sprouted up from the ground.

How had they avoided it? Looking at the ground saw the hole that they had come out of. They went underground to avoid the blast. "You three hid underground to avoid my roar." Without warning the big muscle guy began walking towards me. I felt magic come to his form as he readied a punch aiming for my center mass. I smirked and readied a punch of my own. " **Void Demon's Fist**." I called as our fists smashed together. I felt his earth magic bounce off of mine and the big guy went flying.

"That was idiotic George." The woman said with a sigh. " **Binding Roots**." She said before roots shot out of the ground and wrapped around my arms and legs just above my wrists and ankles.

The roots held me in the air putting me at a disadvantage. I had no traction under my feet and she or the others could move to me. I let out a growl as I struggled feeling the roots just get tighter. So that was a no go, but a crazy idea popped into my head. " **Void Demon's Inferno**." I said then void energy formed around me like fire. I landed on the ground but fell to a knee starting to feel weak.

"You are a dangerous one kid." Drake said as I felt his magic rise and heard a click. " **Frost bullets**." Drake announced before a stream of cold bullets raced towards me. The bullets hurt like hell and burned like absurdly cold ice. Most of them felt like pellets as they broke upon contact, but several bullets grazed my arms and one grazed my left ear.

"Gah." I grunted feeling blood drip from my wounded ear. I sensed a pause with Drake's magic so I charged towards him. " **Void Demon's sword**." I called transforming my right arm into a blade. I jumped up aiming to slice the black dressed man in half before the muscle guy suddenly stepped in the way in a shielding gesture. As soon as my arm made contact with his crossed arms magic exploded and I was sent flying back. I bounced off a tree and saw darkness as I fell towards the ground.

OoOoOoOoOo

Numerous voices echoed around me where ever I was. I felt pain and weakness in my body, and maybe something under me or over me. My eyes fluttered open and everything was blurry. There were four or five standing shapes moving about and standing close to each other. I looked around me to see some sort of room with wooden walls and some large rectangular object by something that was brightly colored compared to what else I could see. I breathed out a sigh and closed my eyes letting darkness take me.

The next thing I felt was my stomach rumbling at the smell of grilled meat. I opened my eyes then located the source. A plate of grilled steak sat upon the lap of some person. Wait a minute...lap? I looked again ignoring the food, which wasn't easy, and focused my attention to whomever was by me. In a dark wooden chair a lanky well built male rested reading a book. From the angle I couldn't see his eyes but long green hair went to roughly the middle of his back with slight waves to it. The clothing appeared very casual in the form of a dark blue t-shirt, faded blue jeans, and tennis shoes that were a muddy brown in color.

"Finally awake huh?" The male commented as my stomach roared demanding food. The voice was so familiar but I couldn't remember from where. I stared at him then his blue green eyes looked up to mine. "It's been a long time kid."

Could this man be who I thought he was? The one whom had brought me to Taeron's Orphanage all those years ago? "Qrow?" I muttered getting a nod from the middle aged human.

"Yeah." Qrow replied letting out a tired sigh. "Where have you been all these years?" He put the book down onto a small bed stand then moved the plate to be in my lap on the bed. "I tried looking for you but couldn't find you."

I began reaching for the meat but paused before grabbing it. I closed my eyes as dark memories of the tower flashed through my mind, then finished on the few bright ones. "It's a long story." I replied slowly then dug into the meat at protest number three of my stomach. I damn near moaned at the taste of the steak which was heavenly, even if it was cooked. It didn't last long before I looked at Qrow.

"I've got time Aether." The green haired human said. "Tell me, then I can inform Taeron that I found you."

I sighed not really wanting to revisit those awful memories. Though it would probably help to have someone know what I went through in that hell hole. "Alright." I quietly replied. "But it isn't a pretty story..." I trailed off taking another sigh. I told Qrow everything that had happened to me since the visit to Gruen that went wrong to now. I told him about the tower full of Zeref cultists. That Jack, Kayla, and Ryan had been taken with me when Gruen had been attacked. The slavery we were forced into, the Pit Fights I was forced to participate in every month, meeting Erza and the others, then on our botched escape that turned into a slave revolt I started.

Qrow who had stayed silent through my story shook his head. "You've gone through hell kid." I simply nodded feeling on the verge of crying for the first time in years. I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. "Don't be afraid to cry Aether, all of that is behind you now." I finally let the flood gate open and cried. I don't know how long I sat there in a bed crying my heart out with Qrow letting me lean towards him.

A knock sounded on a door before someone stepped into the room. I wiped my eyes of the remaining tears and studied whoever it was. The man was a tall dark skinned individual with a lean body build. He was dressed in tribal looking cloths that were mainly a tan leathery color with some violet colored cloth hanging off of his shoulders and sleeves, and some around his waist. "It is good to see you awake." He said sounding pretty native American to me. Did they have a people like that here? Maybe.

"Thanks." I mumbled feeling at ease for some reason.

"What brings you here Dayru?" Qrow asked as he got up and gave the dark man a hug.

"Checking up on my patient." Dayru replied. "It is amazing that you nearly killed three of my guild members.

I tiled my head to the side. "Guild members?" I asked then Dayru pulled aside one half of his jacket like shirt to show a symbol on his chest. The white symbol was easy to spot against his dark skin and looked roughly like a diamond with two wands or sticks behind it crossed.

"I am a member of the Blue Diamond wizard guild." Dayru explained. "My guild is paid to locate Void Demons like yourself and to help your kind deal with the aftermath of slavery and other traumatic events that can befall your kind."

"I have an offer for you Aether." Qrow said drawing my attention to him. "Do you want to be part of a wizard guild?"

"What guild would I be a part of?" I asked Qrow who yawned.

"Phantom Lord." He replied. It wasn't exactly the guild I was looking to join but I doubt anything major was going on in Fairy Tail anyway. It would help to have someone I knew at a guild. Maybe Phantom Lord wouldn't be as bad as I thought form what the series had shown.

"I want in." I told him and Qrow smiled. "Though I'm not sure if they should know what I am."

"Don't worry about it." Dayru laughed. "Wizard guilds do not forbid Void Demons from entering them, but Void Demons in guilds is generally rare."

"Oh." I commented. That was certainly a surprise, but kinda odd at the same time. guilds didn't forbid Void Demons yet there aren't many in guilds? Maybe my kind just likes to keep to themselves more than interact with humans?

"If it bothers you that much you can wear a mask and I can train you to use my magic." Qrow supplied.

"Deal." I said then Qrow nodded. "Am I clear to leave here?"

"I think so, but I would like to do some tests just to make sure you are fine." Dayru replied.

"Okay." I said then got out of the bed on my own seeing the robe I had conjured still on me. "Glad to know this is permanent." I muttered then followed through with Dayru's tests. The first one was to take off the robe to let him see if I had any injuries remaining. He looked over me with a careful eye then smiled telling me to put the roe back on so I did. Then the tests changed to motor skills which I did fine on.

"You are clear to leave, though I would suggest getting some other cloths to wear in the future." Dayru said patting me on the shoulder before Qrow and I left the building. It was an inn of sorts that functioned as a make shift hospital for Blue Diamond's members and any Void Demons they brought back with them.

"Where did you get that robe Aether?" Qrow asked as walked down the main street of whatever town we were in.

"I made it." I explained seeing a eyebrow rise on the old man's face. "Where are we going?"

"Oak Town." Qrow said then came to a stop. "We'll have to ride the train there, but first do you want to get some cloths or shoes?"

I looked down to my feet which poked out a little from the bottom of the robe. Thanks to my experience at the tower I was used to going around barefoot. "Some cloths would be good since I've got nothing under this." I said gesturing to the robe I was wearing.

"Alright." Qrow commented and began walking again before taking a left turn at a intersection. "Get what you like and I'll pay for it." I followed him down a side street that was lined with shops containing just about everything from magic items to furniture. We went down a ways and stopped in front of a store that displayed some clothing at the front of it.

The store felt pretty welcoming with its calm earthen colors and ceder scent lingering in the air. It was one of the scents I enjoyed a lot and one that could relax me. It seemed that this store had stuff for both men and women based on the racks of clothing near the front.

"Welcome back Qrow." An elderly female voice said before I saw the source. She walked over to us with a bright smile and wearing a black robe. Gary white hair was tied up into a bun and her brown eyes held a grandmother like warmth to them. "Do you need something adjusted for your daughter?"

Qrow laughed. "I don't actually. I'm here to get this one some cloths." He replied gesturing to me with a wave of one hand.

The woman's face came close to mine. "So they found another Void Demon?"

"Yeah." Qrow paused easing the woman back with one hand. "She almost killed the three that found her."

"Which group was it?" The woman asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Drake's team." Qrow answered.

"Oh my." The woman replied with a giggle. "Go ahead and look around young one. Let me know if there is something you like that isn't already your size."

I glanced down at myself. "Uh...I don't know my size."

The woman shook her head. "Follow me." She said then I did so to a little changing area. "Take off your robe please." I complied pulling it over my head and setting it onto a bench next to me.

"Whats your name so the writer doesn't have to describe you as an old woman?" I asked seeing her momentarily pause then continue moving before turning around with a tape measure in hand.

"Hana." She replied measuring my hips. When she got a number she moved up to measure my waist then she measured my chest. "You are going to be a real head turner when you get older."

I smiled a little. She wasn't the only one that had said that. The memory of the woman who cleaned me after every Pit Fight flashed before my mind. "How do you know?"

"Your measurements." Hana answered putting the measuring tape down. "You can put your robe back on. And here are your measurements." She added writing something down onto a small piece of paper. I slid the robe back over me feeling a little warmer and more comfortable then I grabbed the slip of paper from the bench. I went through the clothing store and tried on various outfits at Hana's demands when she had spotted mainly pants and shirts in my collection of clothing to try out. It took an hour of back and forth between us to settle for the clothing I had picked and several young feminine sets of clothing that was light colored shirts with matching skirts.

As Qrow had said he paid for the cloths and we went to another nearby store for some bags to carry things. From that store Qrow bought three bags I wanted; a large backpack similar to the one Natsu regularly had with him in the series,a shoulder bag, and a large suitcase that was gray in color sporting a cross shaped logo with the words "Heart Kreuz" over the horizontal part of the cross. All that shopping had taken two hours and I was dressed in some of my new cloths. My outfit was rather tomboyish with dark colored long sleeve shirt, semi-baggy cargo jeans, and black tennis shoes. By the time we got onto the train heading in the direction of Oak Town night had started to fall.

"What's on your mind Aether?" Qrow spoke breaking the long silence that had appeared after the train got moving.

"Erza Scarlet." I replied. "I just wonder if she is fine."

Qrow chuckled. "I think there is a young read head like you in Fairy Tail."

I smiled feeling a weight off my shoulders. "Good." I glanced out the window watching the landscape roll by. Despite it being night I could see out the window as if it was mid day. Seemed like my kind has night vision among their inhuman gifts. "What kind of magic do you use?"

"The Knight and The Gunner." Qrow said then closed his eyes as he leaned back against his seat across from mine. "It took me years to master both types. Because of that mastery I am powerful and able to handle almost any situation."

He fell asleep right after that causing me to shake my head. Man some people can fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I fished into my shoulder bag for a spiral to write in then got out a pen. "Writing or drawing will certainly pass the time." I commented to myself then began writing whatever came to mind. Three hours later I woke up Qrow so the two of us could get off the train. We got our small amount of luggage then he led us through Oak Town. It was almost as large as Magnolia, as far as I could tell, and had a European like design to a lot of its buildings. Towards one end was a large building that was easily visible and displayed the symbol of Phantom Lord as well as the name in words above it. Qrow went towards the far side of Oak Town to stop in front of a gate.

"You'll sleep here at my house, then we can begin training tomorrow." Qrow explained as he opened the gate and went through. I followed him then stopped when I saw his house. The house was a two story building that was definitely a small mansion or manor with a red brick exterior and two rows of windows for the rooms. The door had a short stair case to it and a entrance way that stuck out from the front side of the building.

"That's more like a mansion old man." I commented as he looked over his shoulder at me.

"I guess so, but that's mainly to store extra weapons and armor." Qrow replied opening the door for me. The inside was pretty welcoming and easy on the eyes with earthen tones and forest greens. The furniture was all hand carved dark wood that seemed to be well cared for. To the left of the entrance was a doorway that led to a kitchen, if the visible stove was anything to go by, while the right had a hallway lined with doors. Qrow went right leading me down the hallway before opening a door at the end of it. "You can use this guest bedroom."

I entered finding the room to be large, but not quite the size of a master bedroom. Like the rest of the mansion it had calming earthen and forest tones with the same kind of dark wood furniture as the entry way. The bed was a rectangle pushed up against the far right wall immediately next to a large window that had the curtain blocking moonlight with a sliver shining onto the pillows. On the other side of the room was a dresser standing guard next to a door that I presumed was the bathroom.

"I'll wake you up in the morning." Qrow said then closed the door for me. I put my bags in front of the dresser then stripped. I took a shower dried off then went to bed naked. It was an odd feeling to sleep under soft warm covers when I had gotten used to sleeping on a cold stone floor because of the tower.

The morning came quickly by a series of knocks on the bedroom door. I rolled over and got out of the bed lazily with a yawn. Once again the short series of knocks echoed from the door, no doubt Qrow. "I'm up." I called stretching my arms over my head.

The door opened and Qrow stood there with a small grin. "Get some cloths on, breakfast is ready."

I nodded then he left closing the door. I got dressed in a black skirt that went to my knees and a matching black t-shirt. I quickly made my way to the kitchen which was where I had thought to find a plate of eggs and bacon waiting for me. The bacon wasn't raw but I didn't care and ate it anyway. "Kinda wished that was raw." I yawned.

"If you wish to hide what you are as much as possible that is something you'll have to avoid doing unless you are alone, or with someone you trust." Qrow commented taking the plate and pitting it on the counter next to the sink. The kitchen was a fairly simple with two stoves next to each other and a single oven to the left of them. It was more or less a large L shape with plenty of space to move around in. The back half of the L next to the wall had the sink right next to the corner near the fridge, or at least some kind of thing like it.

I sighed. "Good point." I sat at the breakfast bar that was attached to the side of the kitchen's L shape opposite of the oven. "So what's up first?"

"Creating a pocket dimension to store weapons and armor for both types of magic." Qrow answered as he led me from the kitchen to the second floor. The second floor had no walls or rooms so it was open and had display stands for dozens of weapons and armors. It was impressive to say the least. He went over to a weapon rack near the stairs and picked up a simple looking rifle and a spear that was also of a simple look. "Due to the type of magic a Void Demon employs this should be easy for you."

"Maybe." I shrugged as Qrow handed me the two weapons, one in each hand.

"Since you have a weapon in each hand I want you to picture a space with your mind and use magic to make it exist. It may help to think of a safe and put the weapon into it."

I nodded then closed my eyes to concentrate. I pictured a see through cube in my mind existing in a black vacuum. I focused magic onto the rifle in my left hand and then pictured putting it inside the cube. I did the same thing with the spear in my right hand, making a separate cube for that.

"Did the safe image help?" Qrow asked then I opened my eyes to see my hands empty.

"I pictured two cubes and placed the rifle in one and the spear in the other." I explained.

"It seems you have an affinity for magic that not all Void Demons have." Qrow commented with a nod. "Now summon those two weapons back."

"Alright." I commented focusing on the rifle in one storage dimension and focused magic on it. A glow emanated from my left hand before it took the shape of a rifle, and turned into it. Repeating the same process the spear appeared in my right hand. I thought of putting both weapons back into their respective cubes and they vanished in a flash of light.

"Good god." Qrow muttered shaking his head. "You're getting the hang of it far faster than I thought you would." He motioned for me to follow him to a section of the floor that had armor that appeared smaller than the rest of them. "I want you to put on these armors and store them in the space you created for the spear."

I looked over the armors each with labels. They had varying designs but they all looked like complete outfits, as well as my size. "These look like complete outfits."

"They are." Qrow replied. "They were sized for my daughter when she was your age, though she took a liking to magic different from mine."

"I guess I'll strip then." I commented doing just that piling my cloths onto the floor next to me until I was only in my bra and panties. The first armor in front of me was a simple looking one that didn't feel all that magical to me. "What magic does your daughter use?"

"She's a Void Mage." Qrow said helping m put the armor on. The armor was pretty flexible with no real exposed parts save for the joints and the upper part of my arms. The armor was a steady silver color that left upper thighs near the groin unprotected for mobility, but the chest plate was like a one piece bathing suit. There wasn't a helmet for this particular set and it had no shoulder guards leaving them exposed. The chest plate was like a sleeveless shirt that fit snugly. Since the chest plate stopped at my collar bones my neck was exposed, though a necklace was placed around my neck by Qrow. "That necklace goes with this armor set which provides a small magical barrier around your neck."

"This feels snug." I commented looking at the boots on my feet. Like the rest of the armor it was silver in color and was like a short heeled boot. The knee guards were simple diamond shapes that came up from the top of the boots.

"It should." Qrow said then stepped back. "Some armors have weapons that come with the set, such as the Flame Emperor's armor." He added as his body as glowed gold then stopped revealing Qrow in armor. I recognized the armor was the one he mentioned, though it was interesting to see it designed for a male. This version didn't have any of the revealing or skimpy design that Erza's had in the series naturally. The weapon that came with the set had his armored hands resting on the pummel with the weapon standing up, and the tip of the blade poking the floor. "The armor you have on did not come with a weapon, but many of the ones here do."

I nodded then stashed the armor in the storage dimension making it vanish with a flash of light. Then for the next hour I put on the various armors Qrow had that were intended for his daughter years ago. He helped me put each of them on before I dismissed them to the storage space for melee weapons and armor. After that it was repeating the same process just with firearms instead. Those went into the second storage dimension I had created. By the end of that process I was hungry and drained.

"Let's take a lunch break then we'll move to the back yard to train you how to use those weapons." Qrow said with a smile then went down the stairs. I was breathing hard from the use of magic in that way but went down stairs knowing food would fill me with energy. I found him in the kitchen getting a pan ready to cook with so I went to the breakfast bar and slumped forward onto it. "What happened to your cloths Aether?"

"Hmm?" I grumbled then sat up and looked at myself. I was stark naked and didn't really care. "I put them into the storage dimension for armor."

Qrow laughed. "That is one use for it." He went back to the pan and got out some meat to put into it. "I should have a mask that covers the bottom half of a face in one of the chests up stairs."

"Awesome." I commented running a hand through my hair that felt like silk. From the smell of what he was cooking Qrow was doing something with chicken meat, onions, mushrooms, and celery. "I'll have to hide my eyes somehow since they are a dead give away to what I am."

"Have you tried changing their appearance through shape shifting?" Qrow supplied as my stomach rumbled at the smell.

"Not yet." I replied shaking my head. I focused my magic onto my eyes trying to picture them as human looking and blue in color. "How's this?" I asked as Qrow turned to me.

"Very human looking Aether." He said then went back to watching over the food mixture on the stove. Five minutes later the meal was done and we ate. After lunch he led me to the open backyard that was huge and lined with a wall of shrubs that blocked outside view of the yard.

"What's next?" I asked then in a flash of light Qrow was wearing Flame Emperor's Armor.

"I'm going to be training you on the advanced workings of The Knight and The Gunner magics." He replied readying the sword pointing the tip at me in a two handed stance. "First will be The Knight magic, so equip your version of this armor and we will spar."

I nodded first summoning my bra and panties then the Flame Empress Armor. I lifted the sword up fairly easily and gave it a spin with my right wrist. It was lighter than I was thinking it'd be for a two handed weapon, but I guess that was because it was designed for an eleven year old not a full grown adult. I readied my weapon then Qrow charged me. Steadying my feet I blocked his first attack feeling the pressure from his swing and then shoved him off me. Qrow landed a few feet back then rushed back at me. I side stepped his next swing and blocked the follow up attack.

I spun pushing him back and tried to slash him but Qrow was already out of the way. I charged him with a vertical slam that he blocked but the force created a small crater around his feet. My blade slid down Qrow's so I pulled my weapon back and spun around for a side hit he blocked.

"Don't forget that some armors have powers like the ones we are wearing." He explained as fire erupted from his blade. I rolled backwards avoiding a blazing swing. "Also the Flame Empress or Emperor Armor reduces the damage taken by fire based magic by half. And it allows you to control fire."

"Sounds useful." I commented swinging my blade horizontally to send an arc of fire at Qrow whom stabbed his blade into the summoning a wall of flames to block my attack. I summoned a second sword into my left hand that was about the same length as the Flame Empress Sword but went with the Frost Empress Armor, which was an armor set with a weapon that controlled ice and reduced ice damage taken by half. I channeled magic into the blade and pointed it at the fire wall to freeze it then rushed forwards. As soon as the frozen flames cracked and fell apart I rushed through ready to strike the older mage.

Qrow was caught off guard so much that he didn't even block my duel bladed strike that sent him flying into the fence, only he hit a barrier of some kind first. The barrier cracked around Qrow's point of impact but didn't break even though it looked like it would. The green haired knight shook his head groaning. His armor had some specks of ice stuck in it and other parts looked scuffled.

"You are one scary Void Demon." Qrow muttered shaking his head. "In all my years of interacting with your kind I've never seen the sheer amount of potential that you have Aether. I have no doubts that you will eventually surpass me in power."

"Really?" I asked.

Qrow nodded. "How much do you know about magic in general?"

I shrugged. "I once read a magic for beginners book, but that was years ago."

"I'm about to tell you something advanced about magic." Qrow said taking a few steps forward. "Magic as you know is something stored within our bodies that strengthens it so we have limits beyond normal humans and can do things normal humans can't. Magic passively enhances the human body, but for those with enough power and skill they can enhance their bodies further beyond what magic does automatically."

"So they basically focus magic on their bodies to enhance themselves further."

Qrow nodded. "That enhancement is only seen among S-class mages or above because it requires skill and power that the average mage does not posses. Granted the ones who have done that are those who tend to use their magic in some form of physical combat, the most obvious example of that are mages who employ any form of melee magic. Sometimes just getting more skill and power with a particular type of magic can do that."

"That makes some sense." I commented. Considering what many mages could do it made sense to me that the magic within them would strengthen their bodies in some way. Some of them even went and enhanced their bodies more through focusing magic on themselves. Of course the prime example that came to mind was Gildarts Clive. On the other hand I was inclined to believe that Erza's strength came from her extensive use of Knight magic and the power she has. "However I think there is something different for Void Demons."

"There is." Qrow said. "Unlike humans Void Demons are born with magic as a part of their bodies. This allows them to start off with a strength greater than a human of equivalent age. The physical strength of a Void Demon is largely reflective of the amount of power they have or their magical potential."

"So in my case I have this level of strength because of the amount of potential I have?"

"Yes. That means that a Void Demon with very little potential or power will be more or less at a human level or closer to it, but those like you will be far beyond it."He explained. "You've done well mixing weapons but you can do better by mixing weapons with different armor sets." Qrow's body glowed once again before it stopped showing a new suit of armor. This one was the Black Wing Armor designed for males. It was a bit different in that it was more like a full suit of armor minus a helmet. The only part of his skin I could see was from his head with the rest of him in that black armor with bat or dragon like wings. In his armored hands was, simply put, a rocket launcher.

I eyed the weapon carefully. "Isn't that a little overboard for here?" Qrow shrugged then aimed it at me. I dismissed the two weapons and summoned something Qrow hasn't seen yet, but I had described it to him. I heard the rocket fire just as the shield I called materialized in front of me. In the blink of an eye it changed shape to a rough oval that protected my body. A dull boom was the only thing that let me know the rocket didn't bounce off the shield.

"What in blazes is that?" I heard Qrow say as his armor clinked at each step.

I walked to stand besides the shield resting in the ground. I didn't see a mark whatsoever on it's smooth gray surface. I put a hand on a rounded spike that was on the outside edge of the shield, kind of like the spikes on Adamantine Armor's shield. The energy within the shield came alive sensing me as one of the two bound to it, but the shield didn't change shape.

"So this is the shield you told me about from the tower." Qrow commented.

I nodded. "Yes, and the only other one who can summon this is Erza Scarlet because it is bound to her blood like it is to mine."

"I see." He paused to dismiss the rocket launcher. "In a week I'll take you to Phantom Lord to get you signed up as a member."

I grinned. "Until then lets train, though I think we should do it outside the city or there could be problems."

Qrow laughed as he exquipped into regular clothing that was all gray in color; jeans, t-shirt, and boots. "Good point. Change into the cloths you had on this morning and we'll pack for a week long trip to the mountains."

He headed inside the house while I stood there. First up I knocked my middle knuckle on my summoned shield to dismiss it back to the Void. I should probably name the damn thing at some point. I concentrated dismissing my Flame Empress Armor and summoning the cloths I had on this morning. The magic Qrow was teaching me was pretty easy for the most part in shaping it, but that took concentration. It takes a few seconds for me to manipulate magic the way Knight and Gunner use it to summon and dismiss the weapons and armor.

In our little sparring match Qrow had given me the time I needed to use magic the way he was teaching me. I knew that a few seconds in a fight could be the difference between life and death,from all those years participating in Pit Fights. It would take time to hone those two magic types enough so that they became second nature to me like my Void Magic was, or as close as I can get. I went inside to the room I was more or less staying in and packed for a week in the mountains with the majority of my stuff going into the backpack. I also packed the shoulder bag with paper for drawing and writing on as well as some tools to do that.

Once those were on me I went to the front door to see Qrow waiting there with a book in hand. He looked up as my boots echoed lightly on the smooth stone floor. Qrow closed the book and put it into a pocket of his jacket, then we headed out.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

That week in the mountains went by quickly. Qrow and I did pretty much nothing but training and resting, plus a little hunting for food that I did. As it turned out I had been right to suggest training outside the city. The Mountains where we had been looked quite a bit different due to the power both of us used against each other. We carved out a good section of stone more or less creating a small quarry. I was a lot better at using swords and the other melee weapons I had in my third storage dimension. I had also pretty good at using the various guns he had given me for Gunner magic he was teaching me. Though I'm sure some of that carried over from my knowledge of guns from Earth and all those video game shooters I have played.

Qrow had been surprised that I made a third dimensional pocket, as I call them, but understood the reason I made it since I had so many melee weapons of various types. During that training I had changed my hair color with my shape shifting ability to black on the off chance that Erza would recognize my crimson hair from afar. The guild building for Phantom Lord was the one I had seen before in Oak Town. I had the mask over the lower half of my face as Qrow and I entered the castle like building earning the stares of everyone in the huge main hall.

"Welcome back Qrow." A beautiful brown haired woman said from a bar that rested to the right of the stairs that led to a raised level. She was dressed in a dark blue dress that showed a little bit of cleavage at the top just under the bottom of her shoulder joints. The edges that I could see of her dress were lined with white cloth (A/N: think of Mirajane's dress during the Grand Magic Games). Her warm brown eyes spotted me and she smiled. "Who is the young girl?"

"Thanks Nissa." Qrow relied then put a hand on my shoulder. Today I was wearing the black skirt I had along with a gray long sleeve shirt and black short heeled boots. "This one is Aether Wade, a talented girl that I have been training. Is the Master here?"

"A pleasure to meet you Aether." Nissa said extending a hand to me. "I'm Nissa Atavus, one of the bar maids. I'm one of the people the members of Phantom Lord come to in order to register their chosen jobs." I shook her hand then felt the presence of a very powerful wizard. I cringed the moment I sensed it and looked to the stairs to the second level of the guild hall. There was no doubt that the immense amount of power I felt came from him.

"Who is she Qrow?" The man said studying me. I looked over him recognizing the man as Jose Porla, Guild Master of Phantom Lord. I quickly spotted the medal attached to his collar that was a symbol that he was one of the Ten Wizard Saints.

"Aether Wade." Qrow answered as I let go of Nissa's hand to face Jose directly. "She is a powerful girl who is able to use several types of magic."

The guild hall erupted into a series of gasps. Silence followed as I felt all those eyes on me.

"A girl of her size that strong?" One guild member commented. "No bloody way."

"How old is she?" Another asked.

"If our strongest S-class mage calls a girl like her strong, that's scary." Another commented bringing a small smile to my face.

Jose raised a single hand silencing the guild hall. "You are free to join the guild Aether Wade. Go see Nissa to get your mark." With that Jose turned around and walked out of sight. As he left the pressure I had been feeling eased up a bit. I turned back to Nissa to see a stamp in her left hand.

"Where do you want the guild mark and what color?" Nissa asked with a smile.

I pulled up my left sleeve and pointed to my forearm. "I'll have it here and make the symbol white."

Nissa nodded then pressed the stamp down on the top of my forearm. She held it there for a few seconds then removed it leaving behind the white colored guild symbol. "Welcome to the guild." She added with a smile before most of the people in the guild hall cheered as one. Now I was an official member of Phantom Lord

* * *

the females in the harem list for Aether Wade are as follows (they are oto in order btw):

Erza Scarlet

Erza Knightwalker

Seilah (spelled "Sayla" for my purposes)

Mirajane Strauss

Ur Malkovich

Ultear Malkovich

Tayuya (not directly pulleld from Naruto but a demon inspired by that character, though a bit different. she is also the latest addition to the harem list and more or less the final one)

Cana Alberona (at philipbaxton's sugestion I gave his idea some thought an chose Cana over Lucy.)

Next Time: Life in Phantom Lord


	5. Life in Phantom Lord

The Fifth chapter of Void Warrior is here! I'm quite thrilled that so many of you favorite this story and or followed it. I won't show it much but this is the first chapter where Aether has a nightmare about the Pit Fights, or one of them in this case. Disclaimer (since I haven't really done one yet): I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the references I make, however I do own the stuff I conjure up such as Aether Wade or Kayla Starks for instance. I will warn you guys that the names I come up with for towns are a bit on the random side as well as the names of many of the job clients. If any of you readers are artistically inclined I'd like to see what you come up with featuring things from this story. If you do that make sure to send me a link to the art work and credit me. I may or may not post it onto my deviantart page. On that note I've been doing some drawing lately to try and get my skill up so I can draw some things related to this fanfiction or my other stories (original or fanfiction). However I slack on that by writing instead *smacks head on desk*, anyway onto the reviews.

Ragna (Guest): I gave it some thought and after looking up Irene (or Eileen as translations have it- a friend of mine pestered me about that) Belserion I decided to add her in the list. she is going to be a bit different from how she is in the Manga since as far as I can tell she is a little too loyal to Zeref's empire (I can't remember how to spell it...) and it is not known why she joined his forces, which would make it difficult for me to get her into the harem list. So with that in mind she is a little different from the manga. Plus I am making her Erza Scarlet's mother. Every fanfiction I read that featured Irene more or less put that character as Erza Scarlet's mother. SInce I already have Ur and Ultear with the same woman I figured I could do this because I suspect that Irene is Erza's mother.

philipbaxton: Glad you liked my pick of Cana and that you are enjoying the story so much. Certainly there aren't man fanfictions that have parent and child paired with the same person. As it turns out Cana may or may not be the last one. as with the reply above this Irene Belserion was added to the harem list, and I've got an idea for another I could add. It was a kind of on the fly idea (much like the one that put Tayuya on the harem list) with another Naruto inspired character: which would be Kaguya Ootsutsuki. I like the way that character looks honestly, though I'm not sure if I should add her in with a look-a-like or not.

eddielog101: It's awesome to know that you like the story so much, and that is some of the highest praise I can think of on a site like this. And that is something I strive to do: Have the characters interact like actual people even if they are those added into a story like Aether Wade for instance. I agree that Lucy gets a lot of attention (as I've probably mentioned before) in many stories as a romance option. However I'm conflicted about having Lucy in there. I chose Cana partly because Lucy is a blond, though Lucy is not a typical one on that note. she is bot smart and sexy but blonds are not as big a turn on if you will to me as redheads or black haired women. If I did include her I'd have Natsu choose Lissanna over Lucy kinda thing.

two questions for you readers: Would you like to see Lucy in the harem I have going later on? And should I add in the Kaguya Ootsutsuki look-a-like character? leave a review with your thoughts on those. Now onto the story...

* * *

That day Qrow picked out an S-class job request to slay some monsters and the two of us were out the doors of the guild in five minutes. The monsters for the request were scaled lizardlisks that could breath fire, or so the job sheet mentioned. We arrived in the town later that day via the train which ran through the center of the town. It looked a bit run down with buildings that had a very western appearance. Qrow led the way to the mayor's place that according to one resident was the largest building in the town.

They hadn't been wrong. The mayor's building was the largest two story house that sat upon a small ridge that probably gave him a view of the entire town. On our way to it I scanned the area seeing some buildings missing large parts of them or just simply in pieces on the ground. Some of the damage was from burns if the charred wood was anything to go by and the rest was probably the lizardlisks waltzing through the buildings. Looking ahead the mayor's house looked to be old with faded paint on the outside that may have once been a dark shade of green, but now looked somewhat sickly bright green in the light. The front of the house had a porch complete with a rail and a swinging chair that was occupied.

"Mayor Cole?" Qrow asked as we approached the front steps of the mayor's house. Whoever occupied the swinging chair got out and stood at the top of the front steps.

"Yes?" the old man, Mayor Cole, said raising an eyebrow. He was dressed in a black suit that fit his aged form snugly, and almost looked as old as the human himself. What little hair on his largely bald head was on the sides and completely white. His green orbs attempted to pierce me. Cole's gaze didn't bother me at all, for I have seen worse from humans in the past.

"We are Phantom Lord mages answering your request to eradicate a group of lizardlisks." Qrow said but Mayor Cole's eyes did not leave me.

"Who is the runt?"

"I'm Qrow's apprentice, Aether Wade." I explained while Mayor Cole just stared at me. After a time his eyes left mine and the old man turned to go into his house, but he paused in front of the door.

"The lizardlisks are nesting in the canyons north of town. Please return to me after you have dealt with them." Mayor Cole said then entered his house.

"How are we going to handle the lizardlisks?" I asked as Qrow and I walked down the northern road towards the canyons. This part of the town was completely wrecked with the only thing standing being parts of the foundations for homes, or at least that's what I was assuming.

"We'll try to ambush one of the lizardlisks on their own to see what their strength is and for you to fight it first." Qrow explained as the sunset shined down upon us. The canyons were quite beautiful rock formations that reminded me of the Grand Canyons a bit, though on a smaller scale. The road ahead of us stopped being stone and gave way to a dirt path that sloped down into the canyons. "If the lizardlisk is too much for you to handle alone I will join in and help you kill it. And remember not to use your Void Demon powers since you are tying to be human."

"Right." I replied taking a step onto the dirt road into the canyons. A few minutes later had Qrow and I on the flat ground at the bottom of the canyons. There wasn't much magic in the area except for a few things. Excluding Qrow and myself I could sense a pack of creatures with a sizable amount of magic. I focused my mind on those mobile platforms of magic trying to locate where they were. "The lizardliks are largely grouped up into one spot. I'm guessing that is where their nest is, but one of them seems to be on their own."

Qrow stopped to look at me. "Are you using a spell to know where they are?"

I shook my head. "I can sense magic in the air, though I did develop a spell to give me very detailed information about what is around me within a certain range."

"Isn't that the one you called "Void Resonance"?" Qrow asked.

I nodded. Sensing the for the lizardliks again they hadn't moved much. There was still a group of them in one large spot. I wasn't sure but it felt like there was maybe a dozen of them there. And the one away from the others was close to us. The crumble of rock brought my attention to above me. On the side of the canyon wall was a lizardlisk, a lizard with six legs, that stared at us with ember colored eyes. The creature itself was probably the size of a car, maybe bigger. The lizardlisk had scales the almost matched the rusty clay red of the canyon wall it was on. From what I could see each foot had four large claws that had cut into the rock of the canyon to hold it in place.

"Looks like we get to test one of the lizardlisks." Qrow commented gesturing me forward.

I took a step forward keeping my eyes on the lizard that let out a growl from a jaw lined with razor sharp fangs. I saw the lizardlisk's tail sway to the left and right. The pointed tip made me a bit worried. The lizardlisk hunched back as it prepared to leap then did just that. I summoned a standard one handed sword to block the lizardlisk's claws with a strike of my own. A shock wave erupted as out strikes clashed sending dust flying everywhere, though Qrow didn't seem bothered by it as far as I could tell out of the corner of my eye. My rear foot dug into the ground while my sword kept one paw locked in place. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a claws come for my unprotected right side so I shoved the lizardlisk back.

It landed on its back a few yards from me with a hiss and got back onto its feet quickly. With blurring speed the front most paws of the lizardlisk came at me ready to kill. In a split second I summoned a second sword to block the claws on the right, grunting at the force. I felt the claws stop moving just before the tips of them got at my skin, though my shirt had been ripped at the shoulder by one claw on the right side. The lizardlisk tried to crush me but I held my stance feeling the strain in my muscles. I felt magic build I front of me where it's deadly maw was at and knew it was going to do something. I pushed with one foot and spun around several times slicing the two front paws up with my weapons earning a roar. I tried to jump back but one paw hit me and raked my side before I slammed into the canyon wall.

I let out a cough and a groan swallowing blood. I Exquipped into the silver colored armor that was the first armor set I put into one of my pocket dimensions. It was a standard armor that had no magical properties aside from the necklace, but it would give me some protection from the claws. With that on I launched from the wall and slashed my way down the lizardlisk's body. The swords didn't really do much against the scales on the legs and the main body, but at the blur of something coming at me I slashed at it. I slid to a stop a yard or two from the end of the lizard's tail to see it missing.

"Not bad, Aether." Qrow commented and I looked up. Sure enough the green haired mage was standing on the top of the canyon watching the fight. "Keep going." He encouraged.

Magic surged in the air which brought me back to what I was doing, fighting a giant scaled lizard. It inhaled deeply at the same time magic was building up in it. I changed armor to the Flame Empress Armor and changed out my two weapons for the one that came with the set right before the lizardlisk released a cloud of flames at me. I smirked feeling the fire around me and charged forward. The ember eyes of the lizardlisk widened with surprise as I burst through the flames and attacked. I slashed upwards trying to slice its head but the lizardlisk ducked to the right avoiding taking the hit to the head. Even if I missed the head I slashed clean through the front left leg making it roar and flop onto its side. Blood gushed from the wound onto the canyon floor with some of that blood getting on me while it used its remaining front most paw to try and stop the bleeding.

I took a stance ready to dash forwards and channeled magic into the Flame Sword. Flames exploded around the blade in a little inferno and the lizardlisk got onto its feet barely. I surged forward with blinding speed dodging to my right to avoid the claws of the remaining front paw of the lizardlisk. My blade went into the lizardlisk's mouth and cut a path through the creature from mouth to the tail where I used the last momentum of the charge to turn around. The bottom half of the lizardlisk crashed to the ground with the top portion sliding off to the right side exposing charred flesh and bones.

"Excellent!" Qrow called jumping down from his perch.

"That wasn't too bad." I commented stabbing my weapon into the ground and leaning on it. I was a little winded but a minute or so of rest would fix that. However I could feel a few bruises on my back and a slice on my shoulder that was regenerating. The slashes on my sides were bleeding a little but healing nonetheless.

"Glad I brought you along?" Qrow asked as he approached me.

"Yeah." I answered. "Sparing against you for training is one thing since you generally give me time to switch between armor and weapons. However I know that isn't the case in most fights. So I like this combat experience to get me used to using my magic to switch out weapons and armor quickly."

Qrow smiled putting a hand on my shoulder. "Wisely worded."

I licked my lips tasting some lizard blood that had soaked through the mask then I glanced at my shoulder where some of my blood was present. "How am I going to explain this?"

Qrow looked at my shoulder and put a hand on his chin. "Not easily." He commented. "However you could say that your blood has that color because you've been exposed to Void Demon blood in the past."

I gave him an incredulous look. "Is that possible?"

"According to my daughter it is possible for human blood to adapt the color of Void Demon blood if a human has been exposed to it when they were young, though it would require a large amount to do so." Qrow explained.

I sighed. That was probably the best I could do, considering I am a Void Demon. How else was I going to explain the color of my blood? "That's better than nothing." I said looking around the area. My battle with the lizardlisk had been at a crossroads of sorts. South was the direction I was facing which led back to town while three other dirt roads went largely north. "I have no choice but to run with the idea because of what I am."

"Have the other lizardlisks moved from where you sensed them earlier?"

I sensed them in the same spot as before. I would have thought with the noise I made fighting the lizardlisk they would have moved. Maybe they're heavy sleepers? "They haven't moved at all." I said then dismissed the Flame Sword in favor of one of my guns, a large heavy sniper rifle. The weapon was a combination of dark wood with silver colored metal and a black colored scope. I led the way down the northwest path for some time then stopped at an open area. Off to one side of the area open to the sky was the mouth of a cave and near it was a pool of water surrounded by small shrubs and two short tress.

"Logical place to build a nest." Qrow commented. "Make it next to a source of water for easy access."

"And kill off anyone who wants some of the water that isn't yours." I said kneeling and looking through the scope. The mouth of the cave had several different skeletons lying about it. I guess we weren't the only ones who encountered these fire breathing lizardlisks. One of the fire breathers came to the entrance of the cave and went right for the pool of water. I took my time and lined up the shot. Pulling the trigger the muzzle of the weapon exploded in light and a magic charged bullet flew out and punched clean through the head of the lizardlisk instantly killing it. The one bad thing about this sniper rifle was that it was bolt action rather than used a clip, though it had far more firepower than my other guns per shot. Naturally the only gun that beat it was the rocket launcher that Qrow had given to me at the end of our week long training period.

" **Ice Bullets**." I said focusing magic on the sniper rifle. As soon as another scaly head poked out of the cave I opened fire watching the ice bullet punch through the skull and explode on the cave wall creating a patch of bloodied ice. Four more came out and I put them down with a bullet each. I could feel the drain of using magic this way, it felt similar to doing an exercise for the first time. However I still had plenty of magic to use.

Qrow sprinted into the cave killing two more lizards with a swing of both weapons in his hands. Their bodies fell down followed by severed heads. I dismissed the sniper rifle standing up and running for the cave. I summoned the only shotgun I had in my ranged weapon storage dimension, one that had explosive power to it. Going into the cave I followed the trail of headless lizardlisk bodies to the back chamber that was massive. It could easily hold a small army in it and the only thing left was the brood mother herself, or the lizardlisk I assumed was the brood mother. This one had brighter orange colored scales than the other lizardlisks and was easily twice their size.

"Now it's only the brood mother." Qrow said as I stopped next to him still wearing the Flame Empress Armor. The green haired man was also wearing his fire resistance armor and the armor set's sword in one hand while the other had a flame spear in it.

The brood mother roared right before a cone of flames came at us. Even with the Flame Empress Armor on I could feel the oppressive heat of the flames. I rolled to the side avoiding some of the fire, but my legs got burnt a little with the armor taking the brunt of the damage leaving a few scuffs. I took aim at the brood mother only for a tiny lizardlisk to leap at me with all six legs ready to slash me up. I fired the shotgun into it vaporizing the little bastard before pumping in another round. The brood mother focused on me then something came at me and hit me on the side. I crashed into the wall with a loud grunt and dropping my weapon.

"Aether, you alright?" I heard Qrow yelling as shaking took over the open area of the cave. No doubt he was fighting against the brood mother using his strength as an S-class mage to great effect.

I pulled myself out of the crater in the side of the cave and tumbled to the floor. I could feel blood on my arms and regenerating scrapes on my chest and neck. "Rough hit but I'm fine!" I called getting up summoning a new set of armor and weapon. This time it was the Black Wing Armor, so named for the wings that were attached to the armor, and the two handed sword that came with the set. I focused power on myself noticing a slight purple or violet glow around my body, then I charged forwards to join the battle. The brood mother didn't see me coming and I slashed through one leg that was going for Qrow. Once I landed I paused a few seconds. I rolled backwards dodging one of her legs, then jumped up towards her. As I came down from my jump I brought down the weapon slicing through the arm that she sent at me earning a geyser of blood and a roar of pain.

I landed and fell to the floor with lizardlisk blood covering a portion of my face, namely my eyes. I wiped it off and licked up the blood that had gotten through the mask. Once I could see again Qrow swung his sword in an arc over him charged with magic and sliced the head off the brood mother.

"There may be more here so lets search the cave." Qrow said coming over to help me to my feet.

"The only ones I sense are us." I said taking a step but paused. "Wait I sense something..." I added going to where we had first seen the brood mother. As expected she had a nest that was large enough to contain her entire body and it was made from dirt. Whatever I felt was coming from here, but it was rather small compared to any of the other lizardlisks. Once I got to the bottom I pushed over some charred wood from what may have been a cart to find a single egg. This was the tiny magic source I felt. No wonder I hadn't felt it till now, everything else had more magic that hid this thing from my senses.

"What did you find Aether?" Qrow asked as I heard him come to a stop next to me. "A lone egg?"

"What shall we do with it?" I asked looking at the egg. The magic I sensed from it wasn't quite the same as the other lizardlisks that we had killed. It had a clay red color mixed with brown as if one might do a blue sky paining with some clouds. In this case the clay red was the sky while the brown was clouds or cloud like shapes. It was about the size of a watermelon. "Although we killed the others I'm not all that inclined to break the egg and eat whatever is inside."

"The egg is an outside variable, so we'll ask Mayor Cole about it." Qrow said then I changed back into my regular cloths and was thankful that the tear on my right shoulder wasn't all that big. Fifteen minutes later found us at Mayor Cole's house once again and the old man looked perplexed.

"Where did you find this egg?" Mayor Cole asked as I held it with my left hand.

"It was in the nest that the brood mother had, though the magic from this egg is a bit different from what I sensed in the lizards." I said as the old man closed his eyes.

"The egg aside, did you two kill all the lizardlisks?"

"Yes." Qrow answered.

"Since you have rid the canyons of the six legged menaces I will pay you." Mayor Cole said then went into the house and came back out a minute later with a large bag. I was sure that bag held our payment for the S-class job. He handed the bag to Qrow since he was the S-class mage then looked at me. "As far as I'm concerned you can do whatever you want with that egg."

We left him with a wave and went to the train station. The personnel there were a little confused about the watermelon sized egg, but they allowed me to have it with me. Once again I was writing away on paper while Qrow sat silently across from me.

"What are you going to do with the egg? And what are you writing?" Qrow asked after the train got moving.

I tossed the pen from my right hand to my left then started writing again. "I'm curious as to what that egg will hatch into. And I'm writing a story obviously."

"A story?" Qrow said raising an eye brow. "What kind of story?"

He began to reach for the spiral but I pulled it away before he could grab it. "Not for your eyes old man." I commented as the green haired knight pouted and looked out the window. I couldn't help the small laugh that escaped my lips at that. "Let's continue doing S-class jobs to train me on top of what training you already have planned."

Qrow simply nodded then closed his eyes to take a nap.

OoOoOOoOoOo

A year later I was sitting at the bar one the right side of the stairs to the raised floor of the guild hall drinking some ginger ale, the soda version not the alcohol one, while the guild members in the hall drank their asses off. I Felt pretty good with myself having been crowned an S-class mage through the guild's S-class Selection Tournament. As it turned out Phantom Lord's S-class trial was nothing more than a big brawl involving those that have been with the guild for a year or more and done at least 100 missions. I had dominated the battle field completely knocking everyone else unconscious so I was the last man standing with a number of bruises and a bloodied wound on the right side of my ribs as well as some on my arms.

"Congratulations on becoming S-class Aether." Nissa said happily bringing me another ginger ale as I finished my current one.

"Thanks." I said smiling. I felt sore all over from that huge brawl and would probably be sore for a few more days. My chest had some blood stained bandages wrapped around which was the only thing on my top besides a light jacket that was black like my hair. My arms also sported bandages around them, though my legs did not have them they were bruised. I also was wearing dark cargo pants with boots. "Can you get some meat for Raz?"

Nissa looked to the small lizardlisk laying down on the bar next to my right arm. He was what hatched from the egg I had brought back from my first mission with Qrow Kain. Raz, as I named him, has gray scales like smoke and orange eyes. Like those lizardlisks I had killed then he had magic within him though the little guy had yet to unlock it. "Sure thing." She said going to the kitchen to get raw meat for him. Raz was almost about the size of a very large house cat and was something that could eat a lot of different things, though I mostly fed him meat.

"Cheers to another S-class wizard!" Someone yelled from the collection of mages at the tables behind me.

"Cheers!" Most of the guild hall echoed. I looked over my shoulder to see a number of them chugging drinks and being a bit rowdy while others had already passed out, maybe from too much alcohol.

A lick to my arm brought my attention to Raz whose tail was dancing back and forth, and like the lizardlisks he did have a pointed tail tip. I scratched the underside of his snout. "Have some patience, Nissa is getting your food."

I saw Nissa walk out of the kitchen with a plate in her hands and raw meat upon it. Raz instantly zeroed in on it watching intently. "Here you go Raz." Nissa commented putting the plate down onto the bar in front of the lizardlisk. As he ate I turned around to watch the party that the guild was throwing for me having been the last man standing at the S-class trial. I would have never thought they would throw a party for one of their own for any reason from what the Fairy Tail anime and manga had showed of the guild, though it was mostly the stuff around the war with Fairy Tail. That party of theirs had been going on for several hours now.

The big double doors of the guild hall opened silencing everyone in a heart beat with Master Jose entering with a kid standing next to him. The kid in question was a boy with metal studs in his arms and some on his face effectively in the shape of eyebrows. I could also sense a magic different from the others here, it was ancient and powerful. His black hair was a spiky mess that went down from his head to end somewhere behind his back.

Master Jose scanned the room and found me before nodding. "Congratulations on becoming S-class Aether Wade." He said then put his hand on the kid's shoulder. "This is Gajeel Redfox, the newest member of the guild."

I raised an eyebrow. Gajeel? Now it seemed the major characters of the series are getting together. From how young Gajeel and I were I didn't think Lucy was in Fairy Tail at this point. "Welcome to the guild Gajeel." I said as the dragonslayer came over to look at Raz who had just finished eating form the sound of it.

"What is that thing?" Gajeel asked before Raz noticed him and hissed. In response Gajeel growled at it.

"A Lizardlisk that I'm raising." I replied then Gajeel's red eyes found mine.

He took a sniff of the air then put a hand over his nose. "You don't smell right."

"You mean this?" I said pointing to the bloodied bandages around my torso under the jacket. "I was exposed to Void Demon blood years ago and my blood adapted to it."

"Relaxing Aether?" Someone called from the front door to the guild, and this time it was Qrow back form another S-class job.

I nodded. "Yeah, though you missed the party." I said as he came over and sat down beside me.

"Party?" Qrow repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"I am now an S-class mage." I explained with a grin.

Qrow smirked then held up a mug that Nissa must have gotten him. "Awesome." He said then I clinked my container with his and drank from my glass. Luckily I had the foresight to put in a little slit for drinking from a straw on the mask I wear, otherwise I'd have to pull it down to drink. "Who was the kid, your boyfriend?"

I barely managed to swallow my drink before slamming a hand on the bar top startling Raz who fell off on my side. "Why did you say that?!" I hissed narrowing my eyes at Qrow.

The old man instantly put his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry, it was a joke." He said then turned to look for someone. I followed his gaze to our newest member, Gajeel Redfox. "Who is he?"

"Master brought him in not long before you got back." Nissa answered for me placing down another plate of meat. I heard Raz climb up the side of the bar to the top to eat more food. Like a dog the lizardlisk was a slave to his belly. "I'm not sure what magic he uses. What can you sense Aether?"

"Ancient magic that is powerful." I replied as someone walked up to Gajeel and asked him something. Gajeel looked up to him pissed and sent the man flying with a punch to the face. His fist had become a club of metal before it retracted and became a hand again. "I'd say that's Dragonslayer magic."

"Impressive." Qrow said though from his tone it was hard to tell if he was being honest or not. Gajeel then ran out of the guild into Oak Town.

I let out a sigh. More than likely he was feeling down because someone didn't believe that he was raised by a dragon. "I'll go talk to him." I said then looked to Raz whom had only eaten half of his second plate. "Stay here Raz." The lizardlisk nodded then wet back to eating. With a grunt I got off the seat and walked after Gajeel. It was only a minute or two before Gajeel whipped around, no doubt having smelled or heard my approach. "What's wrong Gajeel?"

"Why do you care?" Gajeel muttered though I could see that he was on the verge of tears, even if he didn't want to cry.

I smirked even if he couldn't see it under my mask. "I enjoyed watching that idiot go flying when you hit him, so I'm curios as to why you did that."

"He laughed at me when I told him when I was raised by a dragon." Gajeel pouted.

"I believe you." I said earning a surprise gasp from Gajeel.

"Seriously?" He asked watching me skeptically, though with my ask only half of my face was visible. "Why do you believe me?"

I looked around to see that the small street Gajeel and I stood on was empty of people. It was odd that no one was here given that it was only about noon, though this makes things easier for me. "I'll tell you a secret." I paused waving a hand over my eyes to reveal their true form. "I'm not human."

Gajeel at first pulled his head back then leaned in close. "What are you? And why do you smell otherworldly?"

I stepped back and closed my eyes for a few seconds donning their disguise again. "Do not tell anyone but I am a Void Demon. My kind is native to a dimension called the Void though I was born on Earthland." Gajeel slowly nodded and just stood there. "Want to be friends?" I asked holding out my right hand to shake.

Gajeel studied my hand for a minute then grabbed it with a grin. "Why not."

"Let's head back then and you can sit near me and Qrow." I said then we turned around and went back inside. As soon as I opened the doors a gray object came flying at me. I staggered back a step putting my hands on the lizardlisk that was attached to my torso. "Hey Raz."

Raz growled lightly in a pleased manor while I made my way back to Qrow. Once at the bar Raz detached himself from me and laid down to nap next to Qrow's arm. Gajeel kept his eyes on Qrow as I saw him sit down to my right.

"Someone was looking for you just now Aether." Nissa then stopped in front of me eyeing the Dragonslayer. "Do you want anything to drink?

"Water." Gajeel replied after a time.

Why would someone be looking for me? "Who was it looking for me Nissa?"

"A reporter from Sorcerer Magazine." Nissa said then went to go get Gajeel his glass of water.

Sorcerer Magazine? Why the hell would they want to talk to me?

Qrow chuckled so I turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "You're clueless sometimes Aether." The older S-class mage commented taking a drink of his mug. "Sorcerer Magazine wishes to speak with you to do an interview because of what you have recently accomplished."

"So? Becoming an S-class wizard shouldn't really get their attention." I commented scratching some of the bandages at the top of my belly.

"Normally it wouldn't." Nissa added in setting down a glass from the sound of it on the bar top. "However a twelve year old like yourself becoming an S-class mage is unheard of."

I hung my head with a sigh. "You have a point." I looked around the guild hall but didn't find anyone that was out of place here. "Where are they?"

"They said they're staying in the Blue Sky Inn." Nissa replied. "Her name was Natalia Kimbly."

"Out of curiosity has the Master given you a place to stay Gajeel?"

"No." The Dragonslayer answered.

I honestly wasn't expecting him to already have a place to stay, but there was the chance that Master Jose would be in a kind enough mood to give him one. "Why not stay with Qrow since I'm living with the old man for now."

"I'm not that old Aether." The man in question protested making me laugh a little. "At any rate you are welcome to stay in my house Gajeel."

"Whatever you say." Gajeel grunted.

"I'm going to the house for a shower, then to talk to the person from Sorcerer Magazine." I said then left the bar feeling Raz climb up my body to perch on my shoulders. His claws were sharp and a bit longer than a cats but after having him for this long I was used to the pain. I quickly walked to Qrow's mansion and five minutes later entered my room, which was the one I first had slept in. Raz jumped off my shoulders to the bed where I tossed the clothing I had been wearing then peeled off the bandages. It hurt to rip those off but the wounds weren't bleeding, so that was a good thing. With those off I went into the bathroom and ran water for a hot shower.

Half an hour later I exited the shower and dried off feeling refreshed. Raz had curled up on the bed and fallen asleep once again making me shake my head. I exquipped into casual cloths since this method of getting dressed was quick, though it took up space in the storage dimension I had for armor. This time it was more feminine since I wasn't planning on doing any jobs for a day or so. The outfit was black short heeled boots, a gray long sleeve shirt, and a knee length gray skirt. I left the mansion heading for the Blue Sky Inn. That was one of the best Inns in Oak Town as far as Qrow told me.

This time the streets were busy with people going to and from places and merchants at stalls voicing their wares. I maneuvered through the streets and found the Blue Sky Inn quickly from its sign of a bird flying in the air and a cloud behind it. The building was four stories and felt like magic. I narrowed my senses and felt the presence of five wizards in the inn, though nothing else magical. I entered to a grand lobby with dark wood and rich red and brown carpets.

"Can I help you young lady?" The man behind the front counter asked. He was well dressed in a black suit that hugged what I could see of his body. Steady blue eyes watched me with patience. Black hair was tied into a neat pony tail with the tail hanging in front of one shoulder.

"I was told that a reporter from Sorcerer Magazine is staying here." I said as the guy looked down at something.

"Natalia Kimbly is her name, why do you ask?"

"She wants to do an interview with me." I said then the guy narrowed his eyes in thought.

After a few seconds his face lit up with surprise. "You're Phantom Lord's newest S-class mage!"

"Yep." I replied. Then a woman came down the stairs to the left of the front desk. She was possibly in her early twenties, maybe twenty one or so. On her slim female form was a black business suit that did little to hide her curves. Brown hair was tied into a bun on her head and glasses rested on her nose in front of onyx colored eyes.

"This saves me the trouble of looking for you." The woman replied. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs she walked over to me and extended a hand. "I'm Natalia Kimbly."

I accepted her hand. "Aether Wade."

"Would you care to do the interview at a restaurant, I haven't eaten yet today."

"Sure." I said exiting the Inn. "I'm kind of hungry too. Any preferences?" I added turning to the main street of Oak Town that led right up to the Phantom Lord branch building.

"Not really." Natalia answered as her heels clicked on the cobblestone behind me.

I led us down some of the side streets to a simple cafe that I had eaten at a few times before with Qrow. The place was pretty quiet with only a few people in booths that lined either side of the center isle of the cafe. I led the two of us to a corner seat that had my back to the front door and the booth to block sight of me, while Natalia sat across from me.

A waitress dressed in a maid's outfit came by and got our orders before she left us. Natalia yawned then got out a note pad and a pen. "Mind if we start before the food gets here?"

"That's fine."

"So I can get this right how old are you Miss Wade?"

"Twelve, and just call me by my first name please." I answered as she wrote down something.

"Okay." Natalia commented as our glasses of water were dropped off by a waitress. "What type of magic do you use Aether? And who taught you?"

"Two types, Gunner and Knight." I answered as her onyx eyes went wide. Technically I could use three being a Void Demon, though I only used two to be disguised as human. "The man who taught me was Qrow Kain who is also in Phantom Lord."

She sat there frozen for a minute until the pen she had in her right hand dropped. I could see the shock on her face clear as day. "Two types..." She repeated.

I grinned under my mask. "Impressive, eh?"

"More like scary." Natalia commented then composed herself with a deep breath. "When did you join Phantom Lord?"

"About a year ago when Qrow recruited me."

Again the pen in her hand was moving as she took notes. "During that time what did you do under Qrow's supervision to be ready to be selected for Phantom Lord's S-class Trial?

"Relentless training on top of doing jobs constantly." I said stretching my arms over my head. She gave me a look that told me she knew there was more to it. "Because Qrow's an S-class mage we did nothing but S-class jobs at the same time as my training."

Natalia shook her head. "Good grief." she paused to take a drink of water. "So how hard was it to become an S-class mage?"

"It was fun, though not as challenging as I thought it would be." I said as our food was placed in front of us. I had a burger without the bun so it was on a plate with some tater tots on the side. The burger itself had a large patty that was cooked medium rare, onions, mushrooms, and lettuce, and of course the sauce for the burger all over it. Natalia apparently got a breakfast item that was scrambled eggs with hash browns and two sausages. "I had to fight nearly a hundred other mages to get my new title." I pulled down my mask to under my chin to eat then I caught sight of her staring at me. "What?"

"You have fangs."

I sighed. "One of the side effects of being exposed to Void Demon blood at a young age." I explained then started cutting up the meat into bite size chunks. Silence took hold between us as we ate. Roughly five minutes later both of our plates were empty and she had the notepad out in front of her again.

"When were you exposed to Void Demon blood and how did it happen?" She asked having a curious glint in her eyes.

I closed my eyes seeing images of my past. The dark memories of the tower with the Pit Fights were prominent and the torture they put me through on a regular basis. "I'd rather not discuss that." I answered trying to let pain sound in my voice.

"I'm sorry." Natalia said gently. "I didn't know that was a painful subject for you."

I let a smile grace my lips. "Thanks."

"Why do you wear the mask?"

"To hide my face obviously." I answered opening my eyes to see her writing on the notepad once more. "I don't want to show my face to the world. Plus the fangs might make people nervous, and please don't mention them in the article."

"I won't." Natalia said nodding. "Do you have any dreams for the future?"

I shrugged. "Not really." I wasn't exactly looking far ahead partly because I had an idea of what might happen, though I tend to focus on the now rather than the future.

"That concludes my interview with you Aether." Natalia said putting away the notepad and pen into a pocket of her jacket. "It was nice talking with you."

"Likewise." I said standing up then exiting the cafe after paying for the both of us. "I'll be looking forward to see what that article of yours has in Sorcerer Magazine about me."

"You're one of the more easy going mages I've run into. Maybe we'll talk again when you get more famous?" Natalia said as she approached Blue Sky Inn.

I laughed. "Maybe." I commented waving goodbye to her before she entered the Inn.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

 _"You runt!" A large blockhead of a man yelled at me as power exploded form his form. It was only us left in the bloodbath of another Pit Fight._

 _I was wounded badly with my right arm lost and my legs sporting a dozen or so slices between the two of them. Blood dripped down blocking vision in one eye, but I stood and gathered power._

 _The male let out a growl and charged me with an arm cocked back. "_ _ **Void Lance**_ _!" he bellowed shoving the arm forwards. It extended as a potent force of void energy that raced for me with incredible speed._

 _"_ _ **Void Demon's Sword**_ _!" I called rolling to the side at the protest of my injuries and extended my leg out for a kick, and then transforming my foot into a serrated blade. I hacked off the older Void Demon's arm off then retracted my foot before leaping at him. "_ _ **Void Demon's Fist**_ _." I ground out slamming a void charged punch into his face making the male crash into the side of the Pit. I rushed forwards changing my arm into a sword and spun slashing off his legs above the knee._

 _He screamed as I came to a stop then slashed upwards severing his arm. Blood shot out from his severed limbs but he was still breathing. I readied to sever his head when he spoke. "_ _ **Void Demon's Roar**_ _." The roar ripped through my right side burning flesh and exposing my ribs and part of my right lung._

I felt hands on my shoulders and instantly lashed out at whomever they belonged to. There was a meaty smack as I hit something and a crash from nearby. A male growl forced my eyes open to see a familiar black haired male pulling himself out of the dent in the wall directly in front of the bed I was in.

"What the hell was that for?" The Dragonslayer grumbled rubbing his head.

"A nightmare Gajeel." I replied taking a few deep breaths feeling hot. "What are you doing here?"

"I came here because I wanted to go on a job with you." Gajeel responded before his face became red and he turned around.

I raised an eyebrow then looked down. Like always I was naked when I slept, though at sixteen it was clear that I was going to be a head turner. The two women whom had predicted that weren't wrong at all. And as far as I could guess I'd have the same sexy body shape that Erza has in the series."You know I sleep naked so get used to it metal-head." I said throwing the covers off me and getting out of the bed. "How did you get in here?"

"The window." Gajeel replied turning around though his face was still quite red.

I face palmed. "Can't you go through the front door?" Gejeel just shrugged. "So what S-class job did you pick out this time?"

With the mention of "job" Gajeel's face became less red and a bit more serious. "One of your favorites; subjugating a dark guild."

"Perfect." I grinned showing a fang. "Since you're over there toss me a pair of underwear and a bra."

Gajee opened the top drawer of my dresser and quickly tossed me the two items I requested. "Couldn't you just Exquip into clothing?" He grunted closing the drawer.

"I could but it is so much fun teasing you like this." I countered putting on the two garments. After four years of being an S-class mage I had more than enough money to afford my own place. I had chosen one of the more run down places on the outer edge of Oak Town. There was only a few tenants and the owner of the small complex didn't exactly care what the tenants did as long as he got rent money on time. The apartment Gajeel had invited himself to was a small one for the most part. It was a one bedroom with a living room, kitchen and dining room combined and my bedroom at the end of the hallway past the public bathroom.

"Was the nightmare about the tower?"

I walked over to the closet in the corner next to the bathroom and got out a black t-shirt and put it on. "What else would I have nightmares about Gajeel?" Since he had lived with Qrow for a time I had told the Dragonslayer about my past, all the blood and pain I had endured in the tower of heaven as a slave and pit fighter. Not only did he know about the pain I had suffered there I had also told him about the humans I met there, such as Erza Scarlet and Jellal.

Gjeel was silent for a minute as I felt his eyes on my back. "There's been plenty of dicey situations you and Qrow have gotten into, or you and me."

Those may have been scary moments at the time but they never did haunt me as much as those years I spent in that accursed tower. "They don't haunt me like that place does." I went over to the dresser and got out a pair of dark blue jeans that I put on along with a belt. Leaning against the dresser was a custom order lacrima guitar that could play nearly any type of music. It had been an expensive 130,000 jewels to order it, but I was happy with the result. The instrument itself was a polished silver color with crimson colored cords to match my true hair and eye color. All I had to do to play music that involved more than just the guitar was to channel magic into it and imagine that sound. So I could replicate drum sounds via the guitar that came from a floating music note that hovers near me when I play the instrument.

"I know you Aether." Gajeel spoke with a knowing tone. "It wasn't just the tower, it was one of the Pit Fights you almost died in."

I stood up putting my left hand on the right side of my ribs. That of course was an injury healed years ago, not long after I had gotten it. Sometimes with that nightmare I felt as if the wound was fresh. "Yeah." I supplied putting on my mask and changing the appearance of my hair and eyes. With that out of the way I got my backpack and the shoulder bag and left the apartment after locking it up. "Where do we need to go?"

"South a ways to the town of Canaby." Gajeel answered as we got to the main street of Oak Town.

"Seems like we're going to be riding the train." I said seeing Gajeel look a little green at the mention of "train". "I can knock you out for the ride if you want."

"Or Raz could fly us there." Gajeel offered.

"Let's go get the lizardlisk." I commented heading for Qrow's mansion since there was no way in hell to fit Raz inside an apartment building like the one I lived in. The lizardlisk had grown considerably over the space of four years to the size of a large tiger able to transport two people on his back. During that four year gap from my interview with Natalia Kimbly Raz had unlocked the magic within him on a S-class job that I had done on my own with the lizardlisk. One of the things he could do was breath fire, but also summon a set of magic wings that allowed him to fly.

After opening the gate to Qrow's mansion I heard whining, similar to that of a dog or wolf. That stopped quickly as Raz charged over the hill to the house heading straight for me. He came to a sliding stop in front of me as his claws tore up the ground.

"Still as energetic as ever." Gajeel said shaking his head.

"Hello Raz." I said as the two of us petted his head. "We want you to fly us to our job location." Raz's tail wagged back and forth in rapid succession before he conjured up his wings. The wings more or less grew from his back and looked dragon like as Gajeel had once commented, and I agreed. I got onto Raz's back first then Gajeel climbed on behind me.

"Let's roll." Gajeel said putting both of his arms under my chest to hold on like what the person behind the motorcycle driver does for safety. Raz crouched down before jumping up also using his wings to get airborne. Since I wasn't planning on showing my true identity to the world yet I couldn't shape shift into a bird to get the sensation of flight, so riding on Raz's back was the closest I could get.

"South Raz." I directed to the lizardlisk that had been flying a slow circle around Oak Town. He let out a grunt then turned to go south at speed. It was a beautiful day to fly as there were no clouds in the sky and the sun was out and warm. The scenery was lovey with forests and valleys with rivers as we went to the town of Canaby.

"There it is." Gajeel announced pointing to a collection of buildings next to a large river. The buildings all had dark roofs and seemed to be made of stone.

"Take us down where Gajeel pointed." I said patting Raz's side. The lizardlisk grunted in acknowledgment then he tiled down to land. Raz landed next to a road leading into town with a thud, tearing up some ground from his claws. We got off his back and the wings Raz had summoned shrunk back into his body as if they had never been out. I started down the road into town noticing the design of the buildings. The overall design was like that of Oak Town but with stone instead of wood. Looking around Canaby seemed empty as if everyone was hiding or like it was a ghost town.

"Is it me or does Canaby seem empty?" Gajeel noted walking up next to me on my left.

"I was about to mention that." I commented sensing around for magic, but got nothing. "I can't sense any magic here. What does your nose say?" It was strange that I didn't sense magic here at all besides Gajeel and Raz. Everyone in Earthland has some magic in them with mages and other magically inclined creatures having more then ordinary citizens.

"I smell death." The Dragonslayer informed me. "Blood also lingers in the air, though it smells as if it was shed a while ago."

That doesn't sound good. I took off the backpack and shoulder bag setting them down on the ground. "Raz do you also smell it?"

Raz looked at me and nodded his head yes. He then pointed to a three story building at the end of the street in front of us with one paw. The front side of the building was battered with chunks of stone missing from its front and some from the entrance.

I summoned one of my sniper rifles and looked down the scope. The front door was missing to the building and the stone had scorch marks from intense heat. Dried blood stains dotted the floor and some of the door frame. "Might as well go where Raz pointed, there could be something there to gave us an idea of what happened here."

"Lead the way Aether." Gajeel commented then I switched weapons to an assault rifle I had recently got as an extra reward for an S-class job where I slew a sea monster. The weapon for some reason looked pretty advanced, having a look strangely similar to the common assault rifle from the halo games.

I flipped the safety off and walked forwards expecting something to leap out at us. " **Penetration Bullets**." I whispered activating one of the assault rifle's ammunition modes. As the name implies this mode for the weapon allows it to fire bullets that penetrate through armor of any kind, including scales, stone walls, and magic barriers. I kept my senses up for any magic in the area, but I still got nothing. With my alert eyes and the noses of Raz and Gajeel it would be very difficult for someone to get the jump on us.

Without warning the whole town pulsed with magic. I fell to a knee from the sudden surge with my senses off balance. I shook my head forcing myself to focus and brought my weapon up to see an unexpected sight. All of the buildings held a slight violet tint to their borders and the visible sky wasn't blue. The sky was decorated with slowly swirling energy that was going to a central circle above us. That swirling energy was a bright violet color with black mixed into it, then realization dawned on me. We had somehow gotten pulled or phased into the Void.

"Where the hell are we?" Gajeel asked as I felt him shift position with a leg bumping into one of mine. "This doesn't look normal."

"That's because we're in the Void." I answered taking a look around us. The area around us wasn't different so here the Void was mirroring Earthland as if the whole town had been brought into it. I quickly sensed movement all around us that felt like my kind. The clinking of loose roof tiles alerted me to our investigators. Dozens of large cat like figures appeared on the roofs of the buildings around us with glowing yellow eyes. Several of them were completely visible to me as they stood watching us. The creatures basically looked like panthers with two tails ending in sharp tips, two enormous fangs from the top part of their mouth, and a series of spines on their backs. These creatures looked sliver in the bright violet colored light that the sun-like thing above us gave off.

"What are these things Aether?" Gajeel said sounding unsure of himself.

"Klyrix." Another answered for me. I aimed my rifle at the source to see a man standing in front of the building Raz had pointed at earlier. "They are a cat like creature native to the Void." The man was dressed in loose black jeans, combat boots, dark red shirt under a brown leather trench coat, and to top it off he had on sunglasses that blocked view of his eyes.

"We got an interesting prize boss." Another person commented. This individual was dressed in dark clothing with a jacket that screamed punk, or at least low life criminal. "Not only do we have the War Maiden of Phantom Lord, Aether Wade. We also get Iron Dragon Gajeel." He added with a smirk.

Two dozen or so more people walked out of the buildings wearing various thug attire, and with one symbol shared between the ones I could see. It was a the symbol for the cultists of the tower of heaven scarily enough. I let out a slow growl feeling my blood boiling at the image.

"You killed a lot of us all those years ago during the slave revolt you started." The guy with the sunglasses stated before void power showered his form. "I know it was going to be foolish to try and kill you as humans, so we became your kind War Maiden."

"Are you going to kill my friend?" Gajeel growled as power began to flow off of him. I glanced over my shoulder to see a very pissed off Dragonslayer.

"We'll kill you two just like the humans of this town." The leader, I assume, replied extending his hand towards us. "Slaughter them!"

With that command the Klyrix around us leaped forth and some of the Void Demons around us began moving forward. I pointed my rifle and opened fire aiming for their heads. The weapon barked as bullets were sent at my enemies ripping through them with ease. A wave of Klyrix fell to the ground limp and headless with several Void Demons behind them following suit. I could see Gajeel crouched on the ground waiting for a chance to attack. With short controlled bursts our attackers fell though I could sense them closing in from behind.

A mighty roar shook the air before I felt the heat of an inferno behind me. I let out a breath I didn't had been holding. Raz had my back covered from the Klyrix, though I didn't know if he'd be able to handle Void Demons. One Klyrix almost made it to me but I cut the cat in half with the last rounds of my rifle.

"Finally something to fight!" Gajeel cheered with his trademark grin then charged to my left to fight a group of Void Demons. I dismissed the assault rifle and summoned two regular swords then rushed forwards. Several cultist Void Demons came at me with actual weapons held in their hands that ranged from clubs to a battle ax.

 _If they all became Void Demons shouldn't they know how to change their limbs into weapons?_ I pondered slicing down to the right first then to the left with enough force to launch them back despite not hitting them with the actual blades. Another wave of cultists came at me with fists and weapons charged with Void energy ready to strike. I stopped my advance letting them get close before spinning like a top with my blades out. The result was a shower of blood from the fools that came too close leaving only diced chunks left of them.

"What are you idiots stopping for?!" One cultist shouted to the ones near me.

"She's a monster!" One of them replied as I noticed his shaking body.

I pulled down my mask with a feral grin. How ironic. They had become demons to kill me, yet they were trembling in fear of me. "You all sealed your fate when you became a Void Demons. You will die here." I commented coldly then gathered Void power around me. It felt good to use my birth powers for once. " **Void Spines**." I said before sharp spines made of void energy burst from my form. The spines extended out quickly spearing those that had been out of normal melee range. I siphoned power from the cultists with the spines quickly turning them into broken husks.

" **Aurora Inferno**!" One cultist called out with his hands aimed at me. A half second later a roaring inferno came for me. I exquipped into Flame Empress Armor and sliced the blaze of purple flames in half. I hadn't been scarred at all thanks to the armor, nor did I feel any heat.

That one guy looked horrified that his flames spell hadn't worked, but a group of others encircled me. I felt them charging their magic for something. " **Void Demon's Roar**!" They collectively shouted.

I tapped my foot on the ground summoning my Void Barrier without saying a word. The combined roars hit my barrier at the same time as I closed one eye as if wincing at another person's pain. Together they actually could do some damage, but on their own they were little more than children. This was a slaughter not a fight.

"Did we get her?" One of them asked as I dispelled my barrier.

I let out a slow laugh as the smoke cloud cleared. "Let me show you how a true Void Demon does it." I paused back flipping away to have them all in front of me. " **Void Demon's Roar**!" I called releasing a breath of complete destruction. The breath attack vaporized whatever it touched cutting a path through the whole town in front of me that was pretty wide. I turned to my left to see Gajeel walk up to me covered in Void Demon blood and a few bruises. Thankfully we had discovered that he was compatible with Void Demon blood so it wasn't a health risk to have some Void Demon blood on him.

"This is fun." Gajeel commented with that battle hungry grin on his face.

"Glad you're enjoying yourself Gajeel." I said focusing my attention back to the right where the remaining dozen cultists were. I brought up my Flame Sword and swung it sideways sending out a wave of fire at them.

" **Void Barrier**!" Several of them called summoning a barrier to protect them. The arc of fire crashed into their shield causing it to spasm. It did that for a few moments then stabilized.

In a flash of golden light I switched armor to Heaven's Wheel Armor looking more or less the same as it does with Erza in the series. I then floated up into the air so I was looking down onto the last cultists and a the largely intact portion of the town. I held out both hands to my sides before dozens of swords materialized in the air around me. I charged each sword with void energy to the point they held a purple glow to their metal forms. " **Heaven's Void Dance**." I said then the blades catapulted towards the cultists. The result was explosive to say the least. A row of explosions went off in front of me destroying even more of the town. When the smoke cleared only a line of craters emerged where the cultists had been.

"This is why I don't fight you anymore." Gajeel said as I floated down to the ground. "You don't know how to hold back. And your way too strong."

At this point I had destroyed most of the town that had not been destroyed by the cultists. I shrugged. "True enough." I sensed around for magic signatures but felt none aside from our group.

"Did we get them all?"

I nodded.

"Then how do we get back to Earthland?" Gajeel asked as I exquipped out of my armor, but not into anything else. The Dragonslayer's nose gushed blood and he fell face first onto the ground. "What the hell!?" He growled.

I laughed holding my sides. This was just too much fun to do. "I couldn't resist." I said in defense. "I don't get much opportunity to do this when I'm not in my apartment."

Gajeel gave me a narrowed glance and punched my left shoulder lightly. "You're devious."

I thought that the cultists had done a ritual or something like it to phase the whole town into the Void, but the violet sky told me otherwise. If they were not the ones holding Canaby in the Void something was. "The cultists weren't the ones tethering Canaby to the Void. Something is doing it so look around for something charged with energy."

"Where's Raz?" Gajeel said looking around.

Instantly I sensed around for the lizardlisk and found him in the large building he had pointed to. His magic surged then an explosion destroyed what remained of the once three story building that likely had belonged to the mayor. Assuming that they all lived in the largest buildings in the towns they controlled. I felt magic shift at the same time the sky bled form the violet and black of the Void to sky blue of Earthland.

A groan sounded from the wreckage of the mayor's house before the form of Raz came flying at me. He landed on the ground and slid to a halt just in front of me covered in blood and cuts that had gone through his scales. Out form the dust cloud walked a battered and blood soaked individual. Form the shape I could tell the person was male though I couldn't sense any power from them. His entire form was soaked in bright blue blood coming from dozens of burn wounds on his body. There wasn't much on him in terms of clothing. Only torn pants and scorched combat boots suggested he had clothing on at one point. I saw his face to see bright silver eyes glaring daggers at me surrounded by the cracked frame of sunglasses.

I felt a large presence coming towards Canaby so I exquipped into the clothing I had previously been wearing before the fight. The cultist leader was breathing heavy with his injuries barely healing. "You bitch..." He growled with venom as I felt the presence split into lots of different groups. "I spent years of my life building that orb your pet lizard destroyed!"

Gajeel stepped forwards but I put a arm in front of him. He gave me a glance and I shook my head. Dozens of white armored men showed up with weapons ready and pointing them at us. I recognized them as the Magic Council's Rune Knights, basically their military force. A group of them surrounded us while others went for the Cultist.

"We slaughtered this town just to lure you here War Maiden!" He added seemingly not registering that the Rune Knights were around us. "They all begged for mercy, but we didn't give it to them. Their anguished screams were incredible to hear."

I sighed kneeling down to study Raz. The cultist had completely lost his mind, as if he hadn't already. With that kind of open word confession there was no doubt as to whom had killed off an entire town. Thankfully this would not be blamed on me like a similar incident had been. A clash between me and a single dark guild ended up destroying most of a small town. Although the town had been evacuated by me hours before that fight took place the council wasn't happy about it, nor was Master Jose at the time.

"Take that man away." Someone commanded making me look up. I damn near jumped when I saw the humanoid frog standing before us. I knew they were messengers of the Council from the manga. But seeing them in person was something else entirely. The Council Messenger put his frog fingers together coming up to Gajeel and I. The frogman stopped a yard from us watching the lizardlisk wearily. "What happened here War Maiden?"

"We came here for an S-class job to clear out a dark guild." Gajeel began. "However we discovered that Canaby was empty before the entire town was brought into the Void."

The frogman tilted his head to the side. "How is that possible?"

"There should be remains of some orb that the dark guild used to tether Canaby to the Void which Raz here destroyed." I said patting the lizardlisk's side. "Once in the Void the dark guild ambushed us as well as some creatures native to the Void. The damage you see was caused during that fight. However the town already had some damage from the dark guild killing everyone."

"I see." Frogman said. "It is unfortunate that an entire town was lost, but I am glad that you were here to stop the dark guild. What was the reward for the job you two were going to do?"

"Do any of you need healing?" A young man in a blue robe asked. He had three others with him in the same color robes, though they were all females.

"I'm fine, but my lizardlisk could use some healing if you don't mind." I said then the man nodded. His silver hair was short and spiky just barely going past his ears.

"We can do that." He replied.

Raz was either asleep of more likely unconscious so I moved the lizardlisk to have him lying flat on his belly with his legs stretched out. The four in robes got on either side of Raz and channeled their magic into him. Their hands glowed a soft blue as the wounds on Raz's scaled body began to close.

"The reward was 1,000,000 jewels." Gajeel said answering the frogman's question.

"The Magic Council will pay you that much for getting rid of this dark guild." Frogman said.

That was certainly a surprise. They didn't pay me the last time I dispatched a dark guild and destroyed a town. I guess they have been hunting this dark guild for a while, though I knew they were more accurately the remnants of a cult. "Thanks." I said slowly petting Raz's head.

"That should be most of the lizardlisks' injuries." The silver haired male commented as Raz woke up and hissed at him.

"Easy Raz." I said as he stopped to look at me. "He healed you." Raz looked at the blue robed male for a few seconds then rubbed his head into my hand.

"Lets go back Aether." Gajeel said then turned around and left. I followed after him with Raz at my side to the outskirts of town. Once there Raz summoned his wings before the Dragonslayer and I got on his back after I had picked up my bags. The flight back was filled with quiet that is until we could see Oak Town.

"Wait Raz." I said hugging my legs around his ribs.

"What the hell?" Gajeel said speaking the words on my mind.

The whole town was covered by storm clouds with rain falling heavily from them. However around Oak Town there wasn't many clouds in the sky. This was definitely related to magic, but what? "Are you going to be fine in the rain Gajeel?"

"Yeah." He answered.

"Take us down Raz." I commanded and the lizardlisk did so landing a little ways from the Phantom Lord branch building. The rain was pretty heavy and a bit on the cold side, but not horribly so. "At least the rain will wash out the blood from my hair." I chuckled feeling it do just that and my cloths getting wet. We made our way to the guild and entered heading for the bar.

"Welcome back you two!" Nissa called then Raz grunted in annoyance not having been recognized. "Welcome back as well Raz." Nissa laughed.

"Welcome back War Maiden." A voice with an incredibly thick french accent spoke to my right. Instantly I lashed out with a left hook hitting Sol square in the face, launching the S-class earth mage into the far wall next to the front door of the guild hall with ease.

"I thought I told you not to do that Sol?" I growled watching the mentioned mage pull himself out of the good sized crater in the wall and actually walk over to me. His standard brown suit had some dust on it, though I didn't think that bothered him. I felt the presence of a wind mage and looked up to see Aria in his green robes standing on the railing above us. As usual he had the blindfold over his eyes, which according to him sealed away a large portion of his power. However it didn't seem to make a difference the few times we sparred as I completely overpowered him.

"She did warn you not to do that Sol." Aria noted as the earth mage of the Elements chuckled. "How did your job go?"

I sat down at the bar just before Nissa placed a drink in front of me. I saw Gajeel sit down to my left then Nissa placed a pile of scrap metal in front of the Dragonslayer. "It was a bust." I replied.

"A Bust?" Nissa repeated confused. "How so?"

"Let's just say that I'm not going to be blamed by the council for destroying another town." I explained then all of a sudden I heard crying. Looking up Aria was once again crying a stream of tears. "What the hell are you crying for Aria?"

"Because of the destruction of a town you have blood on you." He said all the while crying.

"That's not it." Gajeel commented with a mouth full of iron then he swallowed. "We put down a dark guild that ambushed us and managed to bring the town of Canaby into the Void where our battle took place. The goons of the Council showed up after Canaby was phased back into Earthland."

"It's been a while since I've seen you War Maiden." Another male voice commented, the third member of the guild's Element team, Totomaru. This guy was the fire mage out of the Element team and largely dressed like a ninja wearing mostly red and orange colored clothing.

"It has." I replied. The last time I had seen him was two years ago when he challenged me to a fight right after I had knocked Gajeel unconscious. Needless to say he didn't last long. "Did you guys get a new member for your team?"

"We did." Totomaru replied narrowing his eyes at me as if I was hiding something. Truth be told I was hiding many things, but no way in hell was I telling him. "A few hours ago Master brought in a water mage, and that's when the rain storm started."

The only water mage I knew that would have a rain storm follow her would be Juvia Lockser. "Do you know where the water mage is?"

"I think she's just wandering around town." Totomaru shrugged.

I turned to Nissa pulled down my mask a little and downed the contents of my mug in one sitting. Pulling the mask back up I left the guild hall with Raz in tow. If I was going to find the rain woman wandering around Oak Town where would I start? To hell with it, I might as well just start at the park. As expected with heavy rain the streets of Oak Town were mostly deserted except for those who had to go through it. A blue dress and umbrella caught my attention next to the central fountain of Oak Town.

"What are you doing wandering Oak Town?" I called getting Juvia to turn around. She had kind of a stoic but also surprised look on her face.

She studied me for a few minutes then her face lit up in realization. "You must be War Maiden."

I nodded. "Yeah, and Totomaru told me his team got a new addition. A powerful water mage."

"That's me, Juvia." Juvia replied as her stoic look came back over her face. "What does a mage of your caliber want with me?"

"I'm curios about you." I replied as she tilted her head to the side, face unchanging. "Why do you have a doll attached to your coat?" I added pointing to the aforementioned doll under her chin.

Juvia looked down to the doll with a slightly sad expression. "Where ever I went rain would always follow Juvia. I made this doll to help make the rain go away."

I smiled under my mask. Her reasons were simple and just like what I remembered from the series. I looked to the sky. "I don't think a doll is going to help you get rid of the rain Juvia." I paused as her eyes widened. "What you need is a friend." I finished holding out my hand to her.

"You want to be friends...with me?" She asked shocked.

"The world can be a dark place on your own, but friends are those who can brighten the world and allow you to find happiness." I explained as tears began to form at the edges of Juvia's eyes. "So, do you want to be friends with me?"

Juvia let the tears flow as she cried dropping the umbrella. "Yes!" She said before wrapping me in a hug. At first I stood there stunned then hugged back feeling the rain ease up as the sky began to clear.

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Next time: Specter of the Past


	6. Specter of the Past

Chapter six is here! I have yet to start chapter seven, but I'll get to that. If you haven't done it yet feel free to check out Freezing fanfiction Freezing: Wolf God. I will warn you that earlier chapters are a bit messy on the writing though later chapters are better.

I know that some of you have requested certain things when it comes to the harem, in regards to Lucy. She will not e in Aether's harem. I have my own plans for her, which do not involve Natsu. On a related note I've decided to have a Kaguya Ootsutsuki inspired character, however her and Tayuya Shendu (yes i did give her a last name) are not exact mirror images of their Naruto counterparts. Both of them are combinations of some of my favorite Naruto females largely in personality or fighting styles (more so for one than the other). Lastly I am writing a fanfiction that is a cross over between Aliens/Predator and Naruto. I'm likely to be posting that when I feel comfortable with it. as always read, review and enjoy.

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Three years had passed since Juvia became my friend and the incident at Canaby by what the Magic Council labeled a dark guild. Sorcerer Magazine had done an article about it and mentioned that I was the one responsible for destroying the buildings of the town along with Gajeel. Raz had grown to be what I was assuming was his full size, larger than a van. I was forced to move into a new place after I had been attacked by some dark mages. My second residence was a two story house on the side of Oak Town closest to the forest. It worked well for me since it was close to most of the shops I went to if I needed something, plus the extra rooms allowed for me to have others over when I wanted.

At this point in time I was drinking in the guild hall that was mostly full as usual with many of the members drinking after having come back from a successful job. I sat at the bar as usual except for the fact I was alone.

"You look bored Aether." Nissa commented from her side of the bar.

"Yeah." I slumped forwards onto the bar. "Gajeel is off on his own for a job and Juvia is with the Element Four doing whatever."

"Why don't you do an easy job for once?" Nissa said stopping to put her elbows on the bar top in front of me. "It'd be something different since you're always doing S-class jobs."

I raised an eyebrow while sitting up. "Got one in mind?"

"Yep." She smiled sliding a job request in front of me. The job was to get rid of a beast terrorizing a town at the south coast. The town was called Kritch and the reward being 50,000 Jewels. That was a nice little reward, but compared to S-class requests where I've been payed a few million it was chump change. The most I have ever been payed was 10 million for subjugating a dark guild. I did that job with Gajeel and it was the most difficult and fun one we ever did. During the subjugation of the dark guild the town had been destroyed but the mayor didn't exactly care. However out the other end the Magic Council blamed me for the destruction of that town, but didn't do anything.

"Sounds too easy." I commented finishing my drink. "Though it should be a nice break form S-class jobs."

I got up and left the bar after paying for my drink hearing Nissa say. "Have fun Aether."

I lazily waved my hand over my shoulder at her walking through the doors the guild hall. I went to my house that was a five minute walk from the guild hall and packed for a week long trip. Going to the southern coast was going to be a two day flight with Raz and then maybe a two or three days to deal with the creature terrorizing Kritch. My house didn't look any different from the other European style houses that were all two stories. I entered to a carpeted hallway with the right side of it having stairs to the second floor that had the master bedroom, two guest rooms, and one public bathroom.

I slipped off my tennis shoes then went up the stairs to my bedroom. As with many of these houses the master bedroom was at the end of the hallway to the left while the right had a closet for towels and such. The first door on the left was the one for the public bathroom. The first guest room had its door opposite the bathroom with the second one down further on the right. It had taken me a while to repaint the house with soothing colors such as a nice dark forest green for the walls with the carpet being a dusty brown color.

Despite painting the interior the master bedroom it was largely plain with some trophies hanging on the walls. One of the larger trophies was a kraken fang that camped on top of my dresser. Next to that sat a lacrima sphere that was for long distance communication. All I really had to do was think of the person and channel magic into it and if they have one it will connect otherwise it doesn't do anything. The dresser rested in the far left corner from the door near the bed with the lacrima guitar by it. To the right of that was my queen sized bed that only had a few blankets on it because of how warm it has been. Past that was the bathroom and next to it towards the door to the master bedroom was the closet. On the floor next to the closet was my backpack and the shoulder bag and suitcase.

I packed a variety of cloths into the suitcase Qrow had gotten me yeas back. In the backpack I put some spare clothing, medical kit, and a few books along with my writing and drawing supplies. I changed clothing to a blue skirt and a sleeveless shirt of the same color. With two hair ties I put my hair into a high pony tail to get it off my neck. With my things packed I grabbed a light jacket that was gray in color. I pocketed the lacrima sphere into an interior pocket then got the two containers for my stuff and went to the back yard.

"Raz!" I called setting down the suit case and the backpack by the back door. The lizardlisk raised his massive head to look me in the eyes. "We've got an easy job that is in Kritch, so do you want to take the train down there or fly?" Because of his size Raz pretty much stayed in the backyard unless he was with me away from the house or hunting in the forest. The backyard was decently sized so the gray lizardlisk had room to move around, but not run or play.

"Fly." Raz replied with a deep rumbling voice I might expect a dragon. It seems convenient to me that Raz can talk, but I just go with it anyway.

"Alright." I nodded. The lizardlisk made his way to the backyard gate then jumped over it. His jump produced a dull thud which had a first scared people that lived near me, but over time they learned not to worry. I collected the backpack and suitcase and went through the house to get one last item. In the closet located next to the front door was a special harness that I had custom made for Raz. The harness was for up to four riders and had straps that could hold suitcases on the sides, up to a maximum of six. After getting that I exited the house, locked it up, put the harness on Raz, then put the backpack and suitcase into the holders on the side. "Let's go." I said getting onto the lizardlisk's back.

Raz crouched down summoning magic then jumped up as his wings appeared. They had changed a little once he stopped growing. Instead of two he had four of them, but they still had their dragon-like appearance. With that we were air born flying to the southern coast. The flight to Kritch was pretty simple with a few breaks for water, food, and some rest. We ended up getting to the large coastal town at sunset after two days. The buildings of Kritch kind of reminded me of what I remembered of Hargeon, or whatever that port city was called that Natsu practically destroyed half of. From the air Kritch was a beautiful place with tons of people out and about largely on the beach.

I directed Raz to land on the beach where there was plenty of space for him. With a grunt the lizardlisk landed in the sand sliding a little in the substance. I looked to my right to see the setting sun casting its reflection on the calm ocean surface. I was glad to be wearing a skirt feeling how warm it was. I got my luggage off Raz then took off the harness stuffing it into the backpack. It took me a while but I had managed to find someone that could enchant the container to hold far more than it normally would.

"It's War Maiden!" Someone on the beach called. I looked up to see a group of people in various swim suits running to me. The majority of the group were men with some females in the mix, though they appeared to be young teenagers.

This...could be troublesome. Due to my looks and reputation as a powerful S-class wizard I tended to get swarmed or followed by lots of people in major towns or cities if the lizardlisk wasn't with me. Many of them were guys who always flirted with me. The remainder of the typical group were fans who just wanted to meet me, and many of them seemed to be young females. It didn't take the group long to encircle me and Raz.

"Could I get your autograph?" One of the males of the group asked followed with nods from most of them.

"Sure." I replied then spent the next five minutes autographing papers and or some form of napkin for the group. The majority of them left after that leaving behind only a few teenagers and one male. The male looked to be in his mid thirties with short black hair and stubble on his chin. He was dressed in a pair of black sim trunks with red flames at the bottom. The three females with him did have the same color of hair and shared the same blue eye color.

"I'm glad that my daughters could meet you in person War Maiden." The male said sounding pretty average, though he was a fit looking dude.

So the three teens with him were his daughters? From the looks of it they were not that far apart in age, maybe being twelve or thirteen. "I take it they are fans?"

The man chuckled. "They are." He said putting a hand on two of his daughter's shoulders. "Ever since they read the article in Sorcerer Magazine about your interview with Natalia Kimbly they have wanted to be mages."

My eyebrows went up a little in surprise. That article was from seven years ago, meaning that they must have been about five or six when they read it. "Are you three sure you want to be mages? My line of work can be very dangerous."

The three teens looked at each other then to me. "We're sure." They largely looked the same to me, though each of them had a different color bikini swimsuit. The tallest one was the teen standing to his right with a black swimsuit and already starting to have a chest. The one to his left wore a dark green colored swimsuit and the final daughter in front of him had a dark red one. The daughter in red had her long black hair in a braided pony tail that hung over her left shoulder. The one in green had shoulder length hair that swayed lightly in the small ocean breeze. The girl with the largest chest had short black hair that was a bit spiky.

I smiled under my mask upon hearing the conviction in their echoed response. "Have you guys decided what magic you'll learn?"

"We all wanted to learn Knight and Gunner magic because of you, but..." The girl with the black swimsuit said with a pause. "We couldn't find anyone who would teach us both magics at once. We did find someone willing to teach me Knight magic, but it was too expensive for my sisters to learn as well."

"I would have loved to be able to pay for that but I couldn't." The male said hanging his shoulders a little. "Being a single father I just don't have the money."

"That can't be easy." I commented getting a nod from him. "Knight and Gunner are both expensive magics due to the weapons and armor you buy."

"However my sisters did decide to learn fire and ice magic." The black clad girl said.

"Would you be kind enough to spar with them War Maiden?"

I scratched the back of my head. "I can try, though I'm really bad about holding back."

"Since your the oldest Gwen, you go first." The girl in red said gesturing forwards.

The girl in the black swimsuit shrugged then walked forwards. "Alright."

I guess she is Gwen. "What can you do with Knight magic so far Gwen?" I asked as the other three walked a distance away to stay out of range of potential crossfire.

"I only have a few weapons and one suit of armor, though I have a lot of clothing in the pocket dimension."

I let out a chuckle. "I've got a fair few pieces of clothing in my armor pocket dimension. Since you don't have much go with your strongest weapon." I said sensing for the magic of the three teens. Gwen by far had the most I could sense and her sisters seemed average to me, like many of the members of Phantom Lord. She closed here eyes in concentration holding her hands close together. In a flash of light a two handed sword materialized. I instantly recognized it as the Flame Sword.

"I got this sword recently, though I have trouble using the fire properties of the weapon." Gwen explained readying it at me. "Let me know when you are ready."

I nodded. Looking down my backpack and suitcase were at my feet. Glancing over my shoulder I didn't see Raz. "Raz?" I said then heard splashing to my right and sure enough the lizardlisk was camping in the water far enough out that it was up to just under his shoulders. "Get your scaled bum over here."

"Not moving." Raz stated making me growl a little.

"Fine." I muttered tossing the two containers at a nearby rock where they landed next to it in the sand. "Attack when you feel like it." I said turning to face Gwen. She charged at me swinging the weapon sideways. With a flash of light a simple sword appeared in my left hand parrying her strike. Her swing stopped dead in its tracks once it hit my weapon. At first she was shocked then she composed herself. Gwen drew back her weapon and unleashed a wave of fire at me. I leaned out of the way sensing it go towards the ocean. She followed up with a series of slash attacks I parried easily.

"Holy crap." Gwen panted stabbing the Flame Sword into the ground. "You're absurd."

I shrugged. "The drawback of sparing with an S-class mage of my caliber. To make this more interesting for me why don't your sisters join you?" I suggested. The sisters looked at each other then nodded collectively. From then the sparring match became a 3v1. After three minutes though the sisters were bruised from my attacks that I tried to the best of my ability to limit.

"Reina now!" Gwen called strengthening the grip on her Flame Sword.

I sensed a gathering of magic form the red clad girl, whom I assumed was Reina. Then Gwen let loose with another blast of fire from her weapon. It collided with a blast of ice creating an instant sight blocking mist. I heard movement and jumped back just in time to avoid the edge of a blade cutting upwards. The mist cleared quickly revealing Gwen with the sword above her from a finished swing, though she was stunned.

I looked down to see my shirt sliced up the front revealing my large bust held by a silver colored bra. "Nice teamwork." I commented looking to the teens to see them relieved and excited. Gwen's weapon vanished in a flash of light and she fell to her knees on the sand.

"Thanks for sparring with them War Maiden." The father of the teens said with a smile.

"Do you guys know if there is a spot within the city big enough for my lazy lizardlisk to sleep for the night?" I asked getting a nod from Gwen.

"The Sunset Resort has large grounds with various buildings. Maybe they have a spot your lizardlisk can sleep, though I don't think it will be cheap." Gwen replied.

"Thanks." I commented retrieving my luggage as Raz decided to get out of the water. "You three have a long way to go if you want to be accomplished mages, but you are on the right track." I commented passing by the family.

"Do you know of a guild you can suggest for them to join?"

"She'll say Phantom Lord Richard." Gwen commented finally standing up looking a little beat up and winded but otherwise fine.

I stopped to face them and looked at the girls in thought. Sure the kids had some potential but from what I could gather Master Jose had been recruiting particularly talented individuals as of the last six years. He was up to something and it didn't quite sit right with me. I knew the man had a hatred of Fairy Tail if you will, since he lost a _single_ fight against Makarov Dreyar whom is the Guild Master of Fairy Tail. I remember the day he came back to the Oak Town building since I was the idiot who made a joke. That had earned a rather painful beating in the upper level of the building that, according to Qrow, shook the entire place.

"I would suggest Fairy Tail." I commented as the male, Richard I assume, raised an eyebrow.

"Why? Aren't Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail rivals?"

"For the most part." I shrugged. "I honestly don't care about that rivalry, and Fairy Tail would be easier to enter. Master Jose has been only letting in talented individuals for the last six years, but as far as I've heard it's easy to get into Fairy Tail." I paused to look at the still setting sun. "I fear that my guild will do something that it won't be able to recover from in the near future."

"I see." Richard commented thoughtfully. "Thanks again for spending time with us, it means a lot to my daughters."

I waved over my shoulder at them before heading into the town proper, though it felt large enough for me to call it a city. At least I had been smart enough to exquip into another shirt that was a white tank top. I found the Sunset Resort pretty easily seeing as it was a huge resort hotel with a number of glowing signs. The place was lavish to say the least. From that look I knew it wasn't going to be cheap. Raz laid down in an open area near the front door as I entered the Sunset Resort through the front doors. As expected it had the rich five star hotel feel with white walls and floors mixed with gold and crimson colored decorations. I approached the main counter where a giant of a man sat wearing an obviously tailor made suit that fit his massive body well. Short brown hair was slicked backwards with some form of gel from the look of it and his skin had some measure of tan, though it was still white.

"How can I help you?" He said not looking away from whatever he held in his hands.

"I was wondering if the Resort here has enough room for a lizardlisk to sleep for a few nights." I asked which brought the man's eyes to mine.

Green eyes were surprised then calmed down with a smile gracing his lips. "Hello War Maiden." He said then looked around. "I've heard rumors that you were raising a lizardlisk. How big is it?"

"Those are true, and he's currently outside." I replied gesturing to the front door. I turned and walked outside hearing the man behind me follow. Raz brought his head up and looked at me as soon as I stepped out of the building.

"He's a large one." The giant hotel clerk said. "There is an old shed that isn't in use that can fit him."

"Where is it?"

"Over there." He said pointing to a shed past the area we stood in. The building was certainly big enough to hold Raz comfortably and had the decorative theme of the hotel on the outside.

I turned to my lizardlisk. "You'll be sleeping in that shed while we're here in Kritch."

"Okay." Raz said getting a slight jump from the hotel clerk. He led Raz over to the shed and opened it up for him. From what I could see there was normally a chain with a lock on the doors, but the clerk took that off and set it aside. After Raz slumped onto the ground to sleep the hotel clerk and I went back inside to get myself a room. Gwen hadn't been wrong about the hotel. Those were fairly pricey for the average person or mage, but for an S-class mage like me it wasn't any trouble. The room I got was on the ninth floor and was one of the master suites, meaning that it had extra things. Those extra features included a large bathroom attached to the hotel room, a balcony with a small table and chair, and room service meals at a discount. Overall it worked out to 1300 jewels a night and whatever room service costed on top of that.

I set down my backpack by the closet along with the suitcase then stripped. I piled the cloths in a corner chair that was next to one side of the king size bed and the closet. I undid the ponytail then went to the bathroom for a shower. The bathroom was large with nice polished granite surfaces that held black and gray veins within them. The tub was next to a roomy shower stall with glass walls. Thankfully the water did not take long to heat up enough to steam up the bathroom, and that's when I got in the shower stall.

Fifteen minutes later I walked out of the bathroom clean and dried off letting my hair down, where the ends reached the small of my back. I went over to the corner chair where my cloths were and stuffed them into the suitcase. Reaching into the backpack I got out a body pillow that was solid black. I had Juvia make that for me when Raz got too big to sleep with me in house. I was used to sleeping with the lizardlisk so the body pillow was a replacement and it made me feel more relaxed while sleeping, for the most part. With that I climbed into the bed pulling the covers over me. Hugging the body pillow to my chest I closed my eyes to sleep.

I woke up to sunlight on my face that came I through the open balcony door. Flipping the soft covers off of me I got out of the bed and set down the body pillow on it. I went over to a short stand with two different lacrima on it, one was for calling room service and the other was for movie watching. I ordered a large omelet breakfast along with some hot tea. Once that was done I fished around in the suitcase for clothing. After a minute of searching I got out a dusty light green t-shirt and gray cargo jeans. I wasn't worried about getting too hot in these cloths since I did have a number of complete outfits in my armor storage dimension that I could switch into if need be. From the backpack I retrieved a book to pass the time since I wasn't feeling quite awake enough to write or draw anything. With the book in hand I went to the balcony to read in the sunlight.

Some time later a knock sounded on the hotel room door making me look up from my book. As I did so the door opened revealing a wheeled cart with my order of food on it. I got up and went over to the woman who had brought in my food.

"Here is your breakfast order Miss Wade." The female hotel staff member said. She had on the uniform of the hotel which was more or less a suit of gray. From her appearance the brown haired woman looked about my age with an average looking but athletic build.

"Thanks." I said handing her a bag of jewels for payment of the room service meal. She nodded her head and left the room quickly. I pulled the cart over to the edge of the bed and ate. On that cart was also a pot of hot tea that smelled like chai. As usual I devoured the meal quickly then opened the book again to read more while drinking the tea. After a while I had emptied the pot of tea feeling awake when I felt the presence of a mage coming down the hallway. I briefly looked at the door then went back to my book. The mage was probably going to their room down the hallway from mine. I read the first sentence of the page before knocking sounded from the door.

"Seriously?" I commented quietly to myself with a sigh. It was the mage I had sensed standing in front of my hotel room door. Maybe they found out I was staying here and wants an autograph? With that in mind I put the book down on the bed then slipped on my customary mask. Before opening the door I made sure to put on the disguises for my hair and eyes. "What do you want?" I asked opening the door to a sight of a very odd man. The male was square as hell and short with the top of his head barely reaching to under my breasts. He had on a white suit and the man's orange hair was slicked back a little, as if styled.

"You have a wonderful parfume." The man commented sending a shiver down my spine.

Parfume? What the hell? I don't even wear the stuff, then I caught sight of a blue colored symbol on the shoulder of his suit. I recognized the symbol well. It was the symbol of the Blue Pegasus guild which meant...Ichiya was the short square man standing in front of me with a shine in his eyes. "I don't wear perfume Ichiya and what are you doing here?"

"Really?" He asked briefly looking confused. "All I was doing was following an incredible parfume and it led me to you."

Oh shit. He probably picked up on my scent which is without a doubt Void Demon. That was something I can't hide at all, which explains why sometimes animals attack me. A lot of animals don't like the smell of Void Demons and want to get rid of the thing that doesn't belong, since my kind isn't really native to Earthland. I felt a magical presence zoom up to me so I punched sideways to my right smacking into flesh. Looking to the right I saw a young male with dark skin and hair lying inside the now broken closet and dented wall. "Don't sneak up on me or I will attack you." I warned as the male slowly nodded.

"You're black hair and blue eyes are dazzling." Another male commented, this time from my left. Another male greeted my vision who wore a light blue shirt and shorts for the warm weather of the area. His hair was short and spiky like the dark skinned guy, though his hair was a brownish color and he had black eyes.

"Care to go out with us?" A third male spoke, though he sounded and looked younger than the others. He was white skinned with blond hair in a short spiky fashion and dark green eyes. From what I remember Ichiya had a following of three males...What were their names?

"Who are you guys?" I asked honestly forgetting. They looked between each other then lined up in front of me in the hall with Ichiya in front of the others.

"I'm Ren Akatsuki, also known as Silent Night Ren." Ren, the black skinned guy, introduced himself. He stood on the far right of their line in front of me.

I leaned against the door frame crossing my arms under my bust looking to the next male, the one who had commented about my eyes. I guess they looked handsome, or good for the eyes, with most females. However I had no interest in men so I didn't exactly care.

"I'm Hibiki Lates, also known as Hundred Night Hibiki." Hibiki explained crossing his wrists while having his hands like pistols with the index and middle fingers as the barrel if you will. He had also winked as he did that gesture. Does this really work to woo women?

"I'm Holy Night, Eve Tearm." The final member of their group said smiling at me.

I let silence fill the hall as the four of them stood there smiling and or posing for me. Did they think they could woo me? Have they not read the articles about me in Sorcerer Magazie? They had more than once done an article about "the perfect man to date Aether Wade". After the third time I read one of those, nothing more than speculation, I went out of my way to tell them that I wasn't dating. The result was in their next issue they made a short article stating that I wasn't dating anyone and that they were sorry for making assumptions that there was some incredible stature for men to have to date me.

I shook my head with a sigh. "Get in the room since I have something to tell Ichiya." Their eyes brightened up quickly. "Don't get any weird ideas fools." Nonetheless I moved aside so the four of them could enter the hotel room, then I closed the door.

"What do you have to tell me?" Ichiya asked watching me with intent eyes.

"Several things." I said with a pause. "Have you four even read the articles about me in Sorcerer Magazine?" They collectively nodded. "So you know that I am not dating anyone currently."

"That just means we get to show you the sights of Kritch." Ren said standing just out of range of my fist.

"Come with us and you'll have a good time." Hibiki commented holding out a hand for me to grab if I wanted to.

"Please go out with us, you won't be disappointed." Eve, the youngest of them by appearance, said. At least the kid is polite.

I gave him a blank look. "You're probably younger then I am. How old are you?"

"Sixteen." He answered bowing his head a little.

"I have no interest in dating for the time being and..." I paused looking to Ichiya who was clearly in thought with a scrunched up face. "Am I right in thinking you have a pronounced sense of smell due to your magic and interest in perfumes?"

"Yes, why?" He replied.

As much as I didn't want to do what I was going to do I needed to. I leaned close to Ichiya holding him in place with my arms, to prevent him from trying to kiss me. "I know your nose can tell that I am not human, but I do not want to reveal that to the world. So keep that information to yourself until I reveal what I am or I will hunt you down and remove your testicles. Do you understand me?" I whispered into his ear feeling him become stiff as stone.

"I...understand." Ichiya said slowly in a whisper. I stood up popping my neck as color returned to the short man's face. Suddenly someone's stomach growled as the three teens looked to Ichiya. He moved quickly to a pose leaning towards me with a hand out and sparkles in his eyes. "Come eat lunch with me, my honey." Ichiya said with a wink and smile.

Another chill ran down my spine at those words. This little bastard just hit the creepy mark, too well. I glared at Ichiya. "Get out." I growled seeing the three younger men quickly get out of the room abandoning their leader. I summoned power giving my body a violet glow before the ace of Blue Pegasus started sweating. I stepped forwards grabbing him by the collar then threw him out of the room through the already open balcony door. I smirked at my work seeing the orange haired mage go flying out into the ocean out of sight. I put the book away into my back pack and left the room locking the door behind me with the hotel key. Once down on the ground floor I exited to see Raz basking in the sun next to the shed he had slept in.

"Are you ready to see the client?" Raz asked standing up.

"Yeah." I replied heading for the mayor's building which held the office for the city's military defenses. My client for the job was the captain of the city defense for Kritch. The travel through the city on foot was a bit different from being in the air. It allowed me to see the coastal resort design on the buildings which gave them curves for edges with light earthen colors. There wasn't much to the crowd of people that followed me, but I got the feeling they were too nervous to talk to me with Raz next to me. He was god at keeping people away from me even if he didn't do anything. It wasn't long before I saw a change in the architecture of the buildings around me. They had changed from the easy relaxing curves to hard angles that government run buildings always seem to have.

"Welcome War Maiden." A male guard said with a sharp nod as I approached the stairs. The man had smooth gray armor that was largely form fitting with no helmet leaving his face clearly visible. The guy's face was pretty angular in a nice looking way with well groomed dark hair on top of his head that was done short. Sapphire eyes looked at me with a neutral expression that hid what he might be thinking. "The Captain's been expecting you." The soldier said opening the door to let me through first before following. The first room of this building was something along the lines of a giant lobby full of chairs for people to sit in while they waited for something. The back wall of the room had a row of desks where a number of women sat, more than likely some form of secretaries. "He was relieved to know that you chose to do the job, even if it was the initial request."

Initial request? Sounded as if something changed, but what? "Sounds as if something happened."

"Yeah." He replied with a hint of tiredness as we heard a bang behind us.

"Damn it." Raz growled as he tried to push forwards, but he simply was too large to go through the doors. Only his head fit through one set of double doors.

I shook my head with a smile. "You're going to have to stay out there dude, you're too large to follow me in here." I told him before I got a sigh from the lizardlisk who began to pull his head back through the double doors he had opened.

"That's the first time I've seen a lizardlisk." The soldier commented as we watched the doors latch close with only a few light scratches from Raz's scales. "Where did you get one like that?"

I chuckled at his question earning a raised eyebrow. "I found his egg on one of my early missions as a mage and decided to raise it."

"Ah." He commented then started walking down a hallway to the left. "As you guessed things have gotten out of hand, so the job is now an S-class one." The soldier stopped at a four way intersection and turned around. He gestured to his right with one hand. "The Captain's office is at the end of the hallway. He's already talking to some Fairy Tail mages but feel free to walk in there."

"Alright." I said with a nod then the soldier left me standing there in the hallway. I sensed the area around me for magic for the hell of it. As the soldier had mentioned there was definitely two magical signatures in the office at the end of the hall and faintly a third. Suddenly my mind felt a jolt as if I had been hit with some static shock. How was that possible, and what did that mean? Shaking my head with a grunt I went down the indicated hallway hearing rising voices.

"You don't think we're good enough to do the job?" An angry male voice said. That voice sounded rather familiar to me, but who was it?

"No." Another male voice said, though this one was definitely older and full of authority. Obviously that voiced belonged to the Captain of the city guard. "You would just get yourselves killed."

"With all due respect we are strong mages Captain Gates." A third voice spoke, though clearly female.

"Two units of Rune Knights were sent to Kalen and only one of them came back alive before the man bled to death in the hospital!" Captain Gates replied with a thud, maybe having hit something. "I've had enough kids die in one week and I'm not going to let you die if I have any say in the matter."

"Damn it!" The younger male cursed as I felt his magic slightly rise. Ah, he was an ice mage. "We're Fairy Tail mages. We can handle what the Rune Knights couldn't!"

"Calm down Gray!" The female voice snapped as I entered the doorway.

Gray didn't listen and moved forwards to throw a punch at the Captain whom was standing and leaning over the top of his desk. I let out a quiet sigh and dashed forwards to grab the mage's wrist.

"Calm down." I commented casually stopping the him instantly. A startled expression dominated Gray's face. I looked back to the Captain who was a grizzled looking man with short gray hair with a sense of tiredness about him. The man was built like a walking mountain, though not in the body builder sense. Shiny silver colored armor adorned his form with a number of medals hanging on the wall behind him.

"Thanks War Maiden." Captain Gates said then sighed and sat down. "I hate to say it but I need a mage of your skills."

"Will you let go of me?" Gray said drawing my attention back to him. As usual the man was without a shirt though he had black pants on along with a necklace that was some sort of sword, or maybe a cross.

I let go of Gray's wrist then moved to the side of the room and leaned against the wall. "Do you now what the Rune Knights were fighting?"

"No." Gates replied. "The only one to come back alive from Kalen kept saying something about demons, slavers, and mercenaries."

"Slavers?" I repeated not bothering to try and hide the disgust in my voice.

"You have experience with slavers?" the only other female in the room asked. I turned my gaze to her. She had a figure like mine with dark purple hair that went past her shoulders to end somewhere at her back. Onyx eyes were a little wide in surprise. She had on clothing that fit her form nicely with a top that covered her torso and crotch being the color of black. Thigh high boots covered her legs and arms were covered from her wrists to mid bicep. The covering on her arms matched the rest of her clothing except the bracers over her forearms that were gray in color.

I nodded slowly. "It's not something I like to talk about. And who are you?"

"Ultear Malkovich." The other female answered. That would explain why she looked and sounded familiar.

"How come you know my name but not her's?" Gray asked looking at me seriously.

"Well..." I paused looking at Gray who had somehow managed to shed what clothing he had on when I hadn't been paying attention. I face palmed. "Put your cloths back on Gray."

"What?" Gray commented confused then looked down. He groaned as Ultear let out a sigh. It seemed Gray did indeed strip as often as some claimed in Sorcerer Magizine.

"The reason I know your name is because of that stripping habit of yours." I said shaking my head. "The soldier who led me here mentioned that things got out of hand, what did he mean by that?"

"Kalen is a small town that has a an iron mine. While expanding a mine shaft their miners stumbled upon ancient ruins. Not long after that a large beast came to the mine and made it's home there killing a number of miners."

"What kind of creature? Was it a cat or lizardlisk?" I asked folding my arms over my chest in a relaxed manor.

"I don't know." Gates answered with a heavy sigh. "I got vague reports about the creature that showed up a week ago. They said the creature was large, highly aggressive, and very intelligent."

"Intelligent? How so?" That is unusual. Why would something that's aggressive and intelligent suddenly make it's home in a mine that was discovered to have ancient ruins? It seemed as if the creature, whatever it is, is taking orders. That kind of thing doesn't happen without a clear reason.

"One of the men claimed the creature was using magic."

"How is that possible?" Gray commented. "There's only a handful of creatures that are known to use magic. None of them live near Kalen or Kritch."

Bingo. That was something concrete. "What came after the creature made its home in the mine?" I asked getting a slight raise of an eyebrow from Gates and gasp from Gray.

"After the creature was in the mines for three days I sent a unit to kill the creature, but none of them came back at all. Then a dark guild came in and laid siege to Kalen and that's when the Rune Knights came."

"The three of us will be able to clear out the dark guild and take out the creature in the mines." I said before Gates looked over us and gave me a nod. "What would you like us to do about the ruins?"

Gates stood up and stopped in front of his desk. "All I want you three to do is clear out the creature from the mines and push back the dark guild. You may look around the ruins if you like, just try to keep it intact if you can."

I nodded. "One more thing. Are you magic sensitive Captain Gates?"

"I don't have much skill with magic, but I am able to sense magical things near me." Gates replied.

"I see." I commented then left the room. That would explain the jolt I felt sensing what was in the room earlier. I heard the other two follow me as I neared the front room of the building.

"About time." Raz grunted as I pushed open one of the doors with an arm. The lizardlisk was sitting down with his two front most legs crossed over his chest. "Lets get going before lunch."

"Have some patience Raz." I said shaking my head.

"What is that?" Gray commented stopping to my left.

"Wow." Raz commented. "You go talk to someone inside and you walk out with a stripper for a boyfriend."

I narrowed my eyes at Raz as I let some of my power flow from me. "He is not my boyfriend you imbecile."

"What did you say Scaly?" Gray growled ticked off.

With a snap of my fingers a sword materialized and hovered right in front of the ice wizard's neck. "That is Raz, he's a lizardlisk I raised." I explained walking past the stationary mage. "Let's get to the job and try to keep your cloths on Gray." I added dismissing the weapon.

"How are we going to get to Kalen?" Ultear asked so I turned to her.

"We'll walk there since I have no idea what kind of defenses the dark guild has." I replied going north in the direction of Kalen. I approached Raz and lightly hit him on a leg. "I met those two less than ten minutes ago, plus they are part of Fairy Tail."

"Alright, but that guy is certainly weird." Raz remarked.

I nodded in agreement. It took us two hours to get near Kalen. The four of us were on a ridge overlooking a gorge that held a camp at the center of it. Lots of mages walked around patrolling while others sat next to a series of tables that held food on them. It seemed we got here a little after lunch, if the amount of empty plates were anything to go by.

"Looks like they are expecting trouble." Ultear commented from my left. We were all laying on our stomachs to be less visible to those in the gorge.

I summoned a sniper rifle then looked down the scope. Everyone I could see was fit and walked as if they had some level of combat experience. One thing I did notice on them was a shared symbol. That symbol was a circle that looked very much like a buzz saw with a triangle in the middle of it on one tip. "These lunatics..." I muttered.

"What lunatics?" Raz asked from a little behind us. He slowly crawled forwards to peek over the edge of the ridge. "Is it that group again?"

"What group are you two talking about?" Ultear asked sounding quite confused.

"A fanatical cult that is obsessed with the Void. Their symbol is that of a buzz saw with a triangle in the middle on one point." I paused surveying the camp some more. In one corner I saw a several Klyrix eating some form of meat that was wrapped in white cloth. Watching them a little longer revealed that the cloth had been a uniform that had the symbol of the Rune Knights on it. Now I know why the others didn't come back, they had been killed and feasted upon by the Klyrix.

"What is a group of fanatics like that doing in Kalen?" Gray asked sliding back a little to be out of sight of the fanatics below us.

"They must be here for the ruins Gate's mentioned." I replied. It was the only logical thing I could think of. It wasn't the first time I had encountered this group who called itself the "Void's Saw". I had run into them before at another ruin that was old beyond belief and learned through their texts that the ruin I had fought them at was one of the "Void Ruins", something that was related to the Void in some way. To this day I still don't know what Void Ruins means exactly.

"Does the Magic Council have any view on them?" Ultear spoke as I slowly trailed my sniper rifle after one of the patrolling guards.

"They are to be put down like rabid dogs." I replied.

"You mean...kill them?" Gray asked slowly.

"Didn't think you'd have to kill anyone as a mage huh?" I shook my head. "Just get down there and see what you can find out, I'll cover you from up here."

"Killing beasts is one thing, killing humans is another." Ultear remarked but nonetheless moved away heading for the gorge floor. Several minutes passed before I spotted them near the entrance to the camp of Void Saw cultists. Ultear had a point, and I felt a little sorry for her and Gray. This was probably the first time they were going to see blood and brains erupting from a human's head. However the one thing that would make this a little easier for them was that not all of the members of Void Saw are human.

"Intruders!" One man hollered loudly pointing to where Gray and Ultear stood. The camp of fanatics scrambled dropping plates and bowls onto the ground to look for weapons.

It seemed this group was primarily human. With a flick of a finger I turned the safety off my sniper rifle and put a finger on the trigger. Before the man could say another word I put a bullet through his head then moved on to a woman standing just behind that guy. I put a hole through her heart at the same time I entered a kind of trance or zone. Every time I pulled the trigger of my sniper rifle a fanatic cultist died with a hole in their hearts or a hole in their heads. It wasn't long before I moved my finger from the trigger and dismissed the weapon. With a glance I counted 18 bodies on the ground bleeding red and about eight more still standing.

"Time for some fun!" Raz roared jumping over the edge to land in the camp with a mighty thud. He had landed on two of the eight remaining human cultists splattering them instantly.

I shook my head with a grin then jumped over the edge myself into the camp. I grunted when I landed on the ground. I sensed something coming for me so I rolled to the left. Several seconds after I moved a average looking sword came down where I had been. In a flash I was armed with a simple sword in my left hand that blocked the blade that came for me with ease. My opponent was a slim looking male with a wiry muscle build who had on the clothing of the other cultists here. In a blur he moved to strike me again and I parried him easily. The two of us quickly got into a high speed sword fight with me parrying the whole time just to see how good this guy was. Without warning four large claws impaled the slim man through the chest stopping him dead in his tracks.

"Is that all of them?" I asked Raz who pulled his claws out of the guy then nodded.

"There's the intruders!" someone called out behind me. Turning I spotted a group of ten men armed with swords and one held a rifle. I smirked charging at them summoning another weapon. The person at the front of the group looked surprised at the same time I sliced upwards cutting the man in half vertically with a blade in my left hand. I side stepped a stab then proceeded to dismember the group while weaving out of attacks.

"You kill so easily..." Utear spoke quietly as I relaxed dismissing the two swords. A pile of body parts were on the ground around me and blood stained some of my cloths though I didn't care.

"Because I have to." I replied sensing the area around us. Within a good distance there was nothing aside from Gray, Raz, Ultear, and myself.

"Why?" Gray asked walking up to me. He had a serious look in his eyes. It reminded me of the first time I had killed someone in front of Gajeel, the dragonslayer had been conflicted about it. However he adapted quick to my reasoning and killing never really bothered him after that. Or if it did he never showed it.

I stared right into Gray's focused eyes. "With people such as those in Void's Saw I am given no other choice. It is either kill them or they will kill you."

"It's true." Raz pitched in. "They try to kill me and I'm not even human."

"You're not on their side is why, and what happened to the Klyrix?" I asked looking around.

"I got them." Gray supplied. "Let's continue and see what these cultists are up to."

I nodded then led the way north some more. We came across two more patrols that met a swift end by me. Gray and Ultear had killed their first person each with the second patrol. They looked a bit distressed but otherwise didn't show if the killing bothered them much.

"That's Kalen." I commented gesturing forwards to shattered city walls. Gate's had claimed Kalen was a small town, but the walls suggested larger. Those walls were maybe half a meter thick and made entirely of stone. I sensed traces of magic in the stone that could have been from the Void's Saw or whatever magic protections once resided on the stone. I suppose these walls were to protect Kalen's iron mine, though against Void Magic stone doesn't hold up well.

"The air around here feels uneasy." Ultear commented. I glanced in her direction to see the mage shiver. "It feels as if something dark is near."

I couldn't argue with that. I felt a significant presence of Void Demons and Void Energy. Void's Saw was definitely up to something and I had no idea what. Ignoring the uneasy feeling that had began to form in my gut I pushed on followed by the others.

"No wonder the patrols never reported in." One man remarked. This guy was a tall slender man dressed differently than the other Void's Saw cultists. His uniform was a dark brown colored robe mixed with crimson. "Kill them all." He ordered. Two dozen people charged towards us. I exquipped into flight armor that gave me an immense speed boost, but not the ability to fly. The armor was another skimpy and revealing armor that had very little actual protection, it was also animal themed. The armor looked the same as the one Erza has except that I had gotten mine with a white tiger color scheme rather than multiple colors.

In the next instant swords appeared in my hands and I surged forwards. I moved faster than they could track and butchered them. Bright blue blood coated the ground and me signaling that the group had been Void Demons.

" **Ice Make: Shield."** Gray called summoning a wall of ice to block a fireball from my side.

"Thanks." I commented switching out the sword in my left hand for a pistol. I glanced to my left then put a bullet through that mage's head and brought the pistol around to the one ordering Void's Saw members. I put two bullets into the man's heart and head in quick succession. I felt a presence behind me then and spun around to see a Klyrix charge at me. Raz smashed one paw down onto it splattering the void cat.

"I can barely see." Ultear commented as things settled down.

"I think we got them." I replied surveying the area. A number of body parts and corpses littered the ground oozing bright blue blood. I counted twenty nine corpses around us. Twenty nine? I thought there had been more, aside from the ones we killed earlier. I removed my finger from the trigger of the pistol and pointed the weapon down to the ground. With things clear for now I exquipped back into the shirt and pants I had on earlier.

Dark laughter echoed around us as a cloud of power formed near the body of the last man I had shot. That man had was bleeding red before shadows formed into a person. The woman stood atop the corpse of the leader I had killed with a twisted smile on her lips. She was dressed in form fitting armor that was probably lightweight in a dark blue color. Looking into her green eyes I felt something familiar.

"It is so thrilling to see that after so long." The woman said with a voice that echoed as if something was speaking through her. The tone and that delight in her eyes felt wrong. A knot was forming in my stomach then I sensed her power. It was the same twisted power that I knew too well. My eyes widened as I let go of my weapons that vanished in golden light as soon as they left my hands.

It couldn't be him... I killed that slaver years ago.

"What's wrong Aether?" Gray asked though I barely heard him, my eyes were focused on the woman in front of me.

My right hand started shaking as crimson flames roared to life around us. Those flames set a number of torches and braziers aflame giving the humans light to see the area we stood in. "I've missed that killing instinct of yours Aether." The woman spoke spreading her arms out. "Hundreds of demons died by your hand."

I caught Ultear looking at me out of the corner of my eye. "What is she talking about?"

"You don't know?" She said bringing her arms back to her sides. "Aether was a pit fighter in her youth." The woman replied waving one arm towards me. "And I see that your body remembers all the pain I put it through. All those times I tortured you, removing your arms and legs." That dark laugh of The Commandant echoed from the mouth of the women in front of me. Rage and fear warred within me fighting for dominance.

"You tortured Aether and removed her limbs?" Gray spoke as he looked at me then back to The Commandant. "How does she still have arms and legs?"

The Commandant chuckled. "Ever hear about the healing powers of Void Demons?" He replied then Gray's form jolted a little, as if hit by an electric shock. "They are able to regrow most of their bodies except for a few internal organs. They can't survive being decapitated for instance but arms and legs grow back fully after three days."

Rage won the internal struggle and my hands stopped shaking. I briefly closed my eyes then opened them to focus upon the source of my nightares. "I thought you were dead, so how are you here?" I growled.

The Commandant pointed at me. "You did kill me back then." Ultear and Gray's heads spun to me. "However I was brought back to life."

"Resurrection isn't possible." Ultear commented. "There hasn't been anyone whose successfully brought someone back from the dead."

The Commandant shook his head. "It is possible to bring back the dead Fairy Tail mage, however it requires a living sacrifice."

"A living sacrifice?!" Gray stammered.

"This woman was a Void Demon." The Commadant gestured at himself. "Now her body belongs solely to me."

I'd heard enough of this sick bastard. I grabbed the mask covering the lower half of my face before letting power flow from me. As that happened my body got a violet glow to it at the same time I let the disguises for my hair and eyes fall. I ripped off the mask with ease then focused that flowing power onto my form.

"Crimson hair...and silver eyes." Gray and Ultear commented at the same time.

"Get out of here if you wish to live, humans." I growled as the Commandant collected power himself. It mirrored my own Void Energy as green eyes shined in bloodthirsty anticipation.

"You overpowered me last time. It won't happen again." The Commandant stated punching an arm towards me that extended as a Void Lance heading right for Gray.

In a flash I moved in front of Gray batting the extended hand away hearing it generate a path of destruction off to our right. "Go!" I said shoving him into Ultear and towards Raz.

"We'll be killed if we stay." I heard Raz say before his form quickly left the area with the teo humans in tow.

"Lets see who wins this time Aether!" The Commandant roared recalling his arm then he charged at me. He threw a right hook at me but I side stepped it kicking him in the back with force. He went flying into the mountainside with a mighty crash, but came for me quickly. I dodged the first several attacks though I was hit in the ribs with an elbow. There was more than a human level of force to that attack which knocked me back a ways. I crashed through several tents and got right back up.

This wasn't going to be an easy fight. I inhaled sensing for the Commandant. " **Void Demon's Roar**." I let out the breath attack at the same time as one came for me. The two breath attacks collided then detonated violently. The area between us was turned into nothing more than a crater of glassed ground. I snapped my fingers whispering. " **Void Mines**." In the area between us I created a spread out mine field with a number of duds that would show up if one was sensing for them, but can't detonate. The Commandant slowed down a little weaving his way through the area trying to avoid all the mines. As he was nearly out of the minefield I made I shuffled it moving the mines. Simply put the mines winked out of existence and appeared in another location at the same time.

" **Void Barrier!** " The Commandant called summoning a barrier as a chunk of a wood landed on a mine causing it to explode. That naturally caused a chain reaction further destroying the area. I smirked activating the only mine that hadn't exploded, that was within the confines of his shield. The barrier flicked out of existence and The Commandant only had minor burns on his arms and legs.

The hell? He should have more injures than minor burns from one of my mines. So what had he done to avoid the majority of the damage? Putting that aside I charged forwards throwing a punch he ducked under. A void charged fist hammered into my stomach launching me back. I crashed through a thick stone wall sending chunks of it everywhere and rolled to a stop. I pushed myself up and spit out some blood off to my side before the area I was at caught my attention. Charred beams of wood or stone stood up like tombstones. This was the remains of town that held maybe 300 people or so. Only burnt bones and dried blood were left of them.

I shook my head closing my eyes briefly. This was among the reasons I slaughtered members of Void's Saw whenever I can. They were quite willing to butcher normal humans just to get access to ruins that were old as dirt, or to gain power. I sensed a source of power coming for me and back flipped. A void blade slammed into the ground where I had been moments before.

"Like what you see?" The Commandant commented retracting the sword that changed back to an arm.

"Cruel as ever." I replied landing on my feet. " **Void Blades.** " I spoke summoning two short shorts of pure void energy.

"Mmph." He commented summoning his own pair of void blades. "Let's dance."

I spun the weapons in my hands once then rushed at The Commandant. Our first strikes collided violently creating a small crater in the ground and a concussive wave. Another concussive blast erupted as our second blades clashed. Our blades remained locked for a few seconds before I freed mine and attacked. The Commandant leaned out of my left slash then parried my right blade. I turned sideways dodging the blade that was going for my stomach. With a grunt I tried attacking again and the two of us got into a stalemate. Between the two of us a flurry of strikes were exchanged. Bright purple colored sparks came off our weapons each time they struck one another complete with a concussive blast wave.

The Commandant matched me, parrying my strikes as I parried his. Only a few marked our arms and faces signaling we had gotten through the others defenses. The once flat area looked like a small earthquake had hit it. I sensed something behind me so I crouched and threw a blade at whatever was there. The blade impaled the head of a Void Demon whom rolled backwards from the force.

"Thought I'd fight you alone?" The Commandant taunted scoring a diagonal slice on my back.

I growled rolling forwards slicing another demon in half then beheading him with my left arm. I could sense a dozen of them heading for me. Rat bastard wasn't fighting me fair, but then again when does evil play fair? I smirked. I don't fight fair either. I exquipped into the flight armor once more. I sprinted around dismembering the Void Demons faster than they could track. I slid to a stop licking up blood that had gotten near my mouth, with a path of body parts between me and The Commandant. The Commandant grinned then vanished form my sight. The next instant I found myself flying through the air. I crashed into stone hard spitting out blood.

"Dammit." I growled looking at my abdomen. The cloth there was scorched black not from fire, but electricity. I sidestepped and kicked at the magic source that came for me. A moment later the crater in the side of the mountain crumbled with a new found hole through it. Through that hole I saw The Commandant got up onto his feet in the middle of an open area. That area was not natural with smooth curved stones and runes carved into some places. Light made itself known with a purple hue. "Makes sense that you would learn some new tricks." I commented walking through the hole I made using The Commandant.

"Of course." The Commandant said spreading his arms out. "I needed magic that could compete with the versatility of your magics."

He had a point that I couldn't fault him for, despite how evil the bastard was. Glancing around the area we stood in was some sort of square or something of the like. It was largely rectangular in shape with passages that I could see behind The Commandant. Where those led I had no idea. Statues of something vaguely human shaped lined the sides of the rectangle, while another stood alone behind the Void Demon slaver. This one dwarfed the other statues and had a different look. This thing had a design that was reminiscent of the Sangheili, otherwise called Elites, from the Halo universe. From what I saw this thing had three fingered hands encased in what could be some form of armor, or maybe that was just the statue itself. There was no clear head from the statue or the other ones like on a human. Legs were clearly defined as much as the arms containing a duel jointed system ending in claws.

The two of us charged at each other once again, but with blinding speed. We slammed blades together again sending out a shock wave that cracked the floor. Those cracks raced all around us to the statues lining the square. I pushed against The Commandant's blades that were locked with mine summoning a violet glow around my body. The Commandant took a step back before a violet glow materialized around his body. With that he pushed back bringing us to our original stalemate. Chunks of tiny stone began raining down as we pushed against each other. At the activation of magic the two of us separated, and just in time. What came crashing down on where the two of us had been was one of the statues. Although this one contained a lively amount of magical power and was moving.

"Threats identified." The stat- construct spoke. I knew it wasn't speaking in English, yet I understood it. How? "Initiating execution Protocol." That definitely made it a machine of some sort. A few moments later the construct pointed one hand at me and sensed a slight rise in power form it.

I felt a tug at my whole body. I threw the void blade in my left hand at the new enemy only to see it lean out of the way. However that allowed the weapon to race towards The Commandant who deflected the blade with one of his own. " **Void Blast."** I called holding my hand out with the palm facing my enemy, and from that a beam of void energy roared forth. The construct's hands turned into shields that deflected my void beam and one that The Commandant had sent its way. I couldn't help the battle hungry grin that came to my lips. It wasn't often that I could go all out when fighting someone. Hell, that had happened only once after the tower when I fought against an entire guild on my own.

The air didn't take long to start rumbling with all the power the three of us exuded. I sprinted around the room to get at The Commandant's backside. At the last second the construct got in the way with a fist heading for me. I transformed my left arm into a sword and sliced off the limb coming for me. With a turn I kicked the construct away from me where it crashed right into The Commandant. That close look made me realize that walking weapon was far larger than me or the slaver I planed to kill permanently.

Seeing a blur of golden yellow I back flipped. That electrical flash stopped momentarily before coming for me. I felt my feet touch stone where I pushed off to intercept The Commandant. I slashed downwards with the blade in my right hand before a blast wave erupted and halted The Commandant's advance. For a moment he was in the air with his void blades crossed to stop mine, then The Commandant was launched into the floor. With that I inhaled ready to use my breath attack on The Commandant.

" **Void Cannon.** " The construct spoke in a monotone voice as a cannon materialized on a shoulder, tracking on me.

" **Void Demon's roar."** I growled turning the breath attack onto the construct whose weapon fired at the same time. The attacks exploded violently with my breath attack overpowering the void cannon. The ruins shook causing several statues on the side to fall over. The small cloud of dust cleared showing a some burn marks present on the top of the construct and its left arm twitching as the right arm started regrowing.

" **Crimson Hell Fire!** " The Commandant spoke before crimson flames exploded from the crater he had made. The flames spread quickly with an intense heat to them.

I grunted when the flames reached me but I switched to my Flame Empress Armor in an instant. Once on the ground I charged through the crimson flames that covered the whole area to get at the construct's damaged arm. I grabbed it with my left hand and pulled. The arm groaned as I pulled it and I felt the material give a little, it felt like some kind of metal. Pain shot through my side as a blade stabbed into me. I was stuck as the construct tried to pull away from me.

" **Void Demon's Great sword.** " The Commandant said to my left. I turned my head to be able to see him with one eye. He had both hands together before they formed into a giant blade. Oh shit. His transformed arms glowed fiercely then began descending to cut me in half. With a grunt I pulled away again this time feeling the arm I gripped loosen from its joint. The construct followed me as I pulled backwards, then the great sword sliced into me. The weapon sliced off my left arm just past the elbow and managed to get the construct's arm too.

" **Void Frost Geyser.** " The construct spoke right before void colored ice exploded out form next to it freezing all of the crimson fire at once, and knocking me back.

I smashed into one of the sides with a hard crunch. I coughed out blood with a growl. Despite switching Frost Empress Armor I received frost burns on my chest and legs from that geyser. My dismembered arm bounced near me as the metal limb it held sparked. Once it was close enough I kicked the severed limbs away towards my enemies then it exploded. A satisfying scream sounded from The Commandant as some blood splattered onto the ground near me.

I gathered power again saturating the area with enough magic to have small pieces of rubble floating up. "Let me show you why I am called "War Maden"." I knelt down placing my hand on the stone beneath my feet. All around me weapons materialized from both weapon storage dimensions. The construct's right arm had fully grown back.

The dust cloud cleared revealing The Commandant bleeding from void burns on the right side of his body while blood flowed from a shoulder gash, probably courtesy of the construct. Those green eyes that haunted my sleep stared at me surprised. After a minute or so the air around me was clouded with various swords, guns, and spears.

"Now I see." The Commandant said regaining composure. "You can summon and control enough weapons to make you a one woman army."

"Yes." replied glaring at him. "Now I will kill you and dismantle the construct." I growled as the weapons around me came to life pointing at either of my foes.

" **Void Demon's Roar**." The Commandant said releasing the breath at me.

" **Void Geyser!** " I called canceling out his breath attack with a geyser of void energy about half way between me and him. With a though half of the weapons I summoned raced towards the construct while the guns opened fire. The remaining arsenal I summoned went for The Commandant. He charged at me with using his lightning magic to get to me quickly. In a flash of light I wore the Lightning Empress armor, a type of ornamental combat armor that reduces lightning damage taken and with the set weapon grants lightning related spells. In my hand was the Lightning Empress Spear that blocked both void blades. I grinned enough to show a fang. "Didn't think I could defend myself while controlling those weapons did you?" The stunned expression The Commandant bore confirmed my suspicion. I shoved him back with my arm then chased him around using the weapon in my hand and those around me to keep the slaver on the run.

At the same time I did that I controlled the weapons assaulting the construct. It was equally challenging to fight it this way. It was able to keep up with the various weapons attacking it at once with a missing arm. This method of fighting was difficult to do, but it allowed me to fight off an army on my own. Through taking subjugation missions I got the real time combat practice of using many weapons from a distance. The Commandant was dodging most of my shots and blade strikes if he didn't parry them, but I could tell he was slowing down. Seeing this I mentally commanded a number of swords to embed themselves into the stone to make a circle covering the area we were fighting in. I felt a pulse of void energy then spotted the construct falling to a knee with a dozen swords in it and too many bullet marks to count.

"Mobility failure." The construct remarked trying to stand up only for a leg to spark with void colored electricity. Turning my attention back to the running slaver I switched back to the Soaring Armor. With ease I got in front of The Commandant and caught him with my arm, hitting his throat. He flipped and landed on his back violently spitting out blood. I called over one of my summoned spears and stabbed it into The Commandant to ensure he wouldn't move.

"Time for you to die slaver." I hissed dismissing the weapons I had summoned except for those in the ground and jumped back form him. With that done I called forth all of my remaining power generating a glowing aura of violet energy over the area inside the sword circle. " **Void Demon's cataclysm.** " I spoke letting the chaotic energy explode and obliterate the entire area. The power unleashed blinded me before something crashed onto my head.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"What the hell was that?" Gray cursed turning his attention to the where he had been not too long ago with Raz and Ultear. Even from so far away the explosion was clearly visible. Chunks of debris rained over a large area signaling the complete destruction of Kalen.

The lizardlisk next to him shuddered. "That was Aether."

"That girl is good at making a mess of things." An old gray haired man commented. Behind the short man was a group of Rune Knights, though their robes were purple in color. The short man himself wore a three pointed black hat, a brown long sleeve shirt with vertical black lines, and blue-green pants.

"Yajima?! What are you doing here?" Ultear stammered.

"I'm here to look for Aether Wade." Yajima replied.

Gray watched the old Magic Council member walk past him with the purple dressed Rune Knights in tow. "You think she's still alive after that explosion?"

Yajima stopped to look over his shoulder at the Fairy Tail mage with a smirk. "I know Aether and the damage it takes to bring her down." He explained then continued walking on. "Return to Fairy Tail for now, the Council will pay you later." _Even if she is a Void Demon that blast may have been enough to kill her._ Yajima mused in his head. _The only way to know for sure is to find her._ With that the Magic Council member traveled to the ruins of Kalen. It wasn't long before the shattered remains of carved stone greeted Yajima's sight.

"You weren't kidding when you said she was good at making a mess." One of the Rune Knights commented as he shook his head at the destruction before them. It was like a giant explosion had happened inside of something that had scattered rocks and stone everywhere.

"I'm seeing a lot of corpses." Another of the Rune Knights noted. "They're human mostly, and all of them bare the mark of the Void's Saw." He added with disgust a the mention of the void cult.

"Our focus is Aether Wade." Yajima commented. "Move the bodies to where they can be examined in greater detail later."

"Yes, Sir." Three of the five Rune Knights replied. The other two followed Yajima as he moved closer to what appeared to have once been a mine, if the charred rails were anything to go by. Bright blue blood covered the area giving the place a faint light aside from the moonlight above. From there it was the time consuming process of looking for one individual among a mountain of blood stained rubble. Two hours after their arrival Yajima found the damaged body of Aether Wade buried under a pile of blackened rubble.

"At last we found her." A Rune Knight said then started moving the rubble to free the Void Demon's body. It wasn't long before they freed her seared and dismembered body. She was missing all of her arms and legs and her eyes appeared to be burnt. There was also a number of visible cuts on her torso and one at her neck.

"Aether is alive, but badly hurt." Yajima noted looking over the Void Demon. "Set up a tent with a medical bed. Her recovery will take a while."

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Next chapter: Phantom's Fall


	7. Phantom's Fall

The next chapter is here! This one is a monster at 40,700+ words. I do not think most chapters will be this long, but I could be wrong. As said in the summary for the story lemons are in it and this chapter has the first one. It is the first complete lemon scene I have written so I hope that it is alright. There are a few surprises in the chapter for ya guys. Also if you all want a complete list of the harem (changed quite a lot from last time I posted the list) I can once again list it after the next chapter, though I will say the number is up to a crazy 32. As usual shout outs in the next chapter to those who can correctly guess any references I make. Some are more obvious than others.

(Spoilers!)On another note the end of the Irene/Erza fight was sad with Irene committing suicide, though it was revealed that Irene is indeed Erza Scarlet's mother as I had suspected...and Erza's father was a bit of an ass to Irene before she snapped turning into a dragon. Though it was understandable thanks to the craziness of Acnologia. Anyway! Thanks for the reviews, favs, and follows. Now enjoy...

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The old Magic Council member sighed once again looking over the demon that occupied the largest tent that his Rune Knights had set up. In the center of said tent was a bed containing the "remains" of Aether Wade, a demon payed to hunt down and kill humans and her own kind. It wasn't the first time Aether had nearly killed herself doing jobs for the old wizard and the Magic Council. With her duties as a Magic Council Executioner this scenario wasn't unexpected when taking on entire guilds by herself.

The flaps of the tent were moved bringing the old man out of his thoughts with one of the purple robed Rune Knights leaning in. "We've gathered the bodies we found and documented everything on them, Sir."

"Good." Yajima commented turning around to face the Rune Knight. "Separate the bodies of the Void Demons from the humans. Once that's done strip the bodies before carving the flesh from their corpses, and be sure to save as much of the blood as you can."

The young man's face became pale instantly. "Carve the flesh from their corpses?" He repeated.

Yajima smirked. There was always a small part of him that loved to see the reaction to that kind of order. Most were horrified at a task such as that or sick from hearing about it. That was one of the reasons the Rune Knights under his command had a high turn over rate, or for the fact they often died in the line of duty against the Void's Saw cult. "You heard me boy." He said as the kid gritted his teeth and swallowed slowly. "Why do you think there is always an opening for your unit of Rune Knights?"

After a time the young man calmed down, though still visibly white. "Where do we put the flesh and blood?"

"You do remember your training about Void Demon healing, do you not?" Yajima remarked staring at the much younger man. The kid closed his eyes and ran a hand through a mess of short black hair. Once he opened them he seemed more calm and collected. "Drain the blood of half the bodies into large bowls then pour it into flasks. As for the other Void Demons place the carved flesh onto platters, which will be for Aether when she's well enough to eat solid foods." The young man nodded slowly leaving the tent. Now it was only a waiting game til the Void Demon woke up. At least he had plenty of intact ruins to document and study In the mean time.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Pain was the first thing that greeted my senses besides some sort of brightness. I grit my teeth trying to ignore the pain, but not really succeeding. This was a familiar feeling since it wasn't the first time I felt like this. There had been a few times in the tower I'd felt this weak, but may more times outside of it.

"You're reckless girl." An old voice commented to the side of me.

I tried opening my eyes and got nothing. Putting that aside I felt for presences around me recognizing at least one of them. "That's not the first time you've said that old man." I rasped feeling relaxed in the Yajima's presence. He was the one whom employed me as a sanctioned killer to deal with the vast numbers of dark guilds, as well as Void's Saw. He offered me that position not long after I had become an S-class mage and telling him of my past.

"Once again you've nearly killed yourself." Yajima commented before I smelled smoke. Evidently he had out his pipe. It was a habit of his when the old mage was stressed or worried.

I grunted weakly. "Didn't mean to." I said sitting up. Every muscle protested my movement painfully. I could feel my left arm but not my right for some reason, but that could wait a little bit. "What happened to me?"

"You don't remember?" He said releasing a slow breath I could vaguely feel. "You did something that destroyed a mountain top and a portion of the surrounding area. That also managed to blow off your limbs."

"No wonder I hurt." I commented before my stomach rumbled and clenched painfully. "I need something to eat."

"So your finally up Aether?" A grumpy old voice commented. I knew all too well who it was. It belonged to a gray haired man in his forties by the name of Higgins Monroe, though most who interacted with him called him "Doc". "You destroyed a mountain top and lived. I would have been happy to find out you died." One thing about the man is that Higgins was blunt and generally an ass. However the guy is incredibly good as a medical doctor. One of the few with pretty extensive knowledge of Void Demon's internal workings.

"Bullshit." I grinned tracking his movement from the tent entrance to the right side of the bed I was in. "You'd miss me. What other patient gives you the greatest challenges when fixing them up?"

Higgins grunted. "It's creepy that you can see despite your eyes being little more than charred flesh at this point."

That is both a blessing and a curse for Void Demons. Because of how sharp our ability to sense magic in the very air is we can use that to replicate sight if our eyes are too badly damaged. The sight granted form that isn't perfect. Since it more or less outlines everything similar to echolocation, allowing for us to know where things are. On the other hand the only colors we may see is related to magic from a person or item if it is strong enough. If there is enough magic concentrated in one spot or area that will disorient Void Demons as easily as a flash bang will for humans.

"I'm glad I can't see your horrible fashion sense." I said as a blade cut into my flesh at an angle. I found it strange that he could wear the clothing I tended to see him in, considering the grumpy bastard was married. He wore cloths in colors that shouldn't see the light of day. For instance I saw him one time wear a puke yellow green long sleeve shirt and muddied beige pants that appeared like they had been pissed on. Unfortunately that had been scarred into my mind, no matter how much I try to forget it.

Again he grunted slicing into my side once more, but deeper this time. "Should I cut a little deeper?" He mused taking out something that had been in me. I saw him shake his head dropping whatever he removed into a pan on the stand by the IV bags. "What did you do to get void charred metal stuck in your hide?"

"Pissing off void powered war machines, what else?" I grunted as he removed another piece a little more towards my hip. With the removal I could already feel it beginning to heal.

Higgins chuckled. "That would do it." He said taking out more shards of metal. I sat there for the next few minutes in quiet letting Higgins do his job to fix me up after major fights like the one I had with The Commandant. I yawned as Higgins put the knife he had been using to cut into me down. "I'm done for now, but your insides are still weak so no solid food for a few days." With that he swiftly left the tent.

I groaned. "Do you have any idea what blew off my limbs? I know Void Demon's Cataclysm doesn't harm the user."

Yajima hummed in thought. "We found pieces of a void engine scattered around where we found you under rubble."

That explained my dismemberment. Void engines were amazing pieces of technology that have only been found inside of void ruins. According to the few who have studied an intact void engine it was a mechanical device that either collected and stored void energy or used void energy to power other technology. Those scholars couldn't figure out if it was one or the other, at least from what I recalled of that article a few years back. The last time I was at void ruins I discovered that those engines were volatile when damaged enough. I wasn't all that surprised by the fact it was volatile, since void energy itself has that quality.

At the time the engine I had destroyed was stable, but after some damage it blew up killing a number of Void's Saw cultists. I should have known there was going to be at least one of those in the ruins. I sighed. "That explains why I'm regrowing limbs."

I saw someone enter the tent and hand something to Yajima before leaving quickly. "This should stem your hunger for now." Yajima commented holding out an object for me to grab. That's when I smelled something amazing. I recognized that smell as Void Demon blood. I have no idea why but our blood tends to smell like rosemary or lavender from my experience. My stomach rumbled loudly at the rosemary smell the blood gave off. Carefully I grabbed whatever container Yajima held then brought it to my lips. As I suspected it was a cup of some sort holding blood. I wasted little time drinking the contents feeling the thick milk shake like blood flow down my throat. "What happened here Aether?"

With the blood in my stomach I could feel my power being replenished a little faster as well as some wounds healing faster too. Within the next few moments I gulped down my only source of food in a while before handing the cup back to the old human. "I came here to clear out a magic using beast per Captain Gates' request. However I along with Fairy Tail's Gray Fullbuster and Ultear Malkovich encountered Void's Saw. I was the one to mostly slaughter them, but those two humans were forced to kill at least one person each. After getting to Kalen proper we found more Void's Saw members then...someone else appeared..." I paused remembering the fear and anger at finding The Commandant alive.

Silence loomed in the tent like an ominous cloud. "Who was it that appeared?" Yajima asked. I remained silent as dark old memories played through my mind. Those centered on the man who was the source of many of my nightmares. "Was it the man who enslaved you ears ago?"

I nodded slowly. "The Commandant was the man I killed, though his soul was the pilot of a female Void Demon's body."

Yajima let out a relaxing breath. "That man was the most dangerous slaver we have ever encountered. The Council has no idea how old Drake Havern was, but he's the man who created the slave collars you told me about years ago."

I smirked a little. "At least that evil bastard won't be able to be resurrected again thanks to Void Demon's Cataclysm. However he wasn't the only thing I had a battle with here."

"Go on." Yajima encouraged.

"I battled with a void powered war machine as I mentioned earlier. It could speak in some language that I understood as if it was english." I replied as Yajima moved a hand to his chin. "It was a three way battle before I showed Drake and the construct what earned my title, then the cataclysm ability."

"I see." Yajima said inhaling then breathing out. "Get some sleep girl." He said hopping out of the chair next to my bed. Once he left I slowly moved back to sleep in the bed, pulling the lone thick blanket over me.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Fairy Tail is generally a place where laughter and excitement could be heard from on the outside, assuming the great double doors of the building were left open. As with some members they sat at various tables drinking or eating with each other. This day was quiet however with the two of the gathered mages of the guild staring at glasses of water in front of them. At the bar stood one of the guild's powerful S-class mages, Mirajane Strauss, whom usually served food and drinks to the other guild members. She had kept a close eye on the two silent mages that had returned from the mission to Kalen, a little over a week ago.

Normally Ultear would come up to the bar and chat with her or any of the others near her, or Erza if she was around. But the time mage was eerily quiet along with the half clothed mage across from her. Once again the ice wizard Gray Fullbuster had taken off his shirt and left his pants alone. Mirajane shook her head and went over to the gloomy table.

"What has got you guys down?" Mira asked hoping for some sort of response. At times like these Mira was the one whom consoled the guild members about problems, and tried to keep spirits high.

Ultear inhaled deeply then let out her breath slowly. "The job went horribly wrong."

Mira raised an eyebrow. "How so?" She said then put her hands on her hips. "Did you get into a fight with a client again?"

"I was stopped before that happened." Gray supplied quietly earning Mira's attention. "We ended up working with another mage." He paused barely suppressing a shudder. "One who terrifies me more than Erza."

"Who could be scarier than Erza, or you Mira?" Wakaba commented form the side as he sipped his drink, naturally sitting next to Macao. Mira turned giving the older smoke mage a glare that silenced him.

"War Maiden." Gray and Ultear replied at the same time. Both of their voices held a healthy measure of fear.

"You worked with her?" Mira said turning back to face Gray and Ultear with a cheery smile. "How was it working with her?" She added making the both of them shudder.

"Bloody." Ultear muttered taking a small sip of her water glass.

"What do you mean?" Mira said as her smile vanished. That was not a word Ultear used lightly, or members of Fairy Tail.

"The job at Kalen became S-class before we got there." Gray answered shaking his head to clear thoughts. "During it we were forced to kill other humans."

Mira narrowed her eyes in irritation. From that answer it was obvious who they had to fight. Death was a darker part of being a mage, even if one never killed another. The Magic Council allowed killing as long as it was clear self defense. They employed sanctioned killers to deal with the ever increasing numbers of dark guilds, and the lunatic cult Void's Saw. An image of demonic clawed hands splattered in red and bright blue blood came to mind before she dismissed it. "Void's Saw?" Mira spoke even though she already knew the answer.

"Yes..." Ultear answered hiding her face with her long hair.

Erza Scarlet stood at the entrance of the guild having overheard the mention of the cult that made her blood boil in rage. She quietly walked over to Gray and put a hand on his shoulder, startling the male. "Killing is never easy." At this Gray and Ultear looked at Erza stunned. "If you have to kill do it to protect another. Where did you encounter Void's Saw?" Erza asked with distaste at mentioning the name of the cult. Being half Void Demon she had her share of encounters with them.

Mirajane quickly gave a glare to the other members of the guild who had been looking on with interest. The result was to her liking as they all turned away to ignore them. "Ultear and Gray went to Kalen for a job that turned S-class because of Void's Saw. They battled the cultists with War Maiden." The silver haired mage supplied turning back to the table as Erza sat down to Gray's right while she stayed standing at the table's end.

"War Maiden kills with disturbing ease." Ultear commented closing her eyes. Flashes of dismembered bodies of humans and Void Demons materialized, along with a red haired woman drenched in both colors of blood. She shook her head and opened her eyes trying to forget the bloodbath and the demon who seemed to revel in it. "It looked like slaughtering humans and Void Demons alike was second nature to her."

"If she kills that easily, War Maiden has to be one of the Magic Council's Executioners." Mira thought out loud with a hand on her chin. __Why did killing became second nature to her? That isn't normal unless...it was forced to become second nature.__ The white haired mage mused in her head.

"That's not all." Gray muttered, almost too quietly for the others to hear. "War Maiden is a Void Demon."

Ultear nodded. "The leader of the Void cultists mentioned that Aether had been a pit fighter in her youth."

Erza froze instantly, her face set in shock. The most powerful S-class mage of Phantom Lord was a Void Demon? And that demon had been a pit fighter in her youth? __How could I have not seen it until now!?__ Erza thought as her mind raced and a fist clenched tightly. __Why did she not come and find me earlier? Why join Phantom Lord instead of Fairy Tail?__

Mira watched as Erza's face went through several emotions at Gray's statement. Her face went from shock to hope to disappointment, then settled on anger. "Are you alright Erza? Mira asked moving over to put a hand on the redhead's shoulder, waking the mage from her stupor.

"Y-yeah." Erza replied taking a deep breath to relax herself. Slowly she eased her hand open from a tight fist. "I think you have found an old friend of mine. A Void Demon who I know from childhood."

"How do you know a Void Demon?" Ultear asked surprised by Erza's actions and her short stutter. None of them had seen her act that way before when it concerned a person, unless they managed to embarrass her greatly.

A frown formed on Erza's face briefly as she looked at the table before she gained a neutral expression. "It's not something I like to talk about, however she was the one who turned me into a half demon." She summoned a short blade in one hand then the gauntlet of her other hand vanished. Erza followed up by drawing the sharp edge of the blade across bare skin. Bright blue blood oozed form the wound before some of it dripped onto the blade she held, preventing it from landing on the table. "Are you sure that War Maiden is a Void Demon?"

"She is one." A voice from the front door announced just loud enough for the gathered mages around Gray to hear, since they sat near the entrance. That voice came from a giant lizardlisk whose frame fit through the large double doors of the guild hall. Gray scales shimmered in the dim light from the cloudy sky outside while orange eyes burned with intelligence. "And before you ask I'm the lizardlisk that Aether raised."

"I thought you left Raz." Ultear commented surprised.

"I wanted to make sure you humans were alright before going back to Aether who should be moving around when I get back." Raz answered.

"Sounds like she hurt herself badly." Mira said as the lizardlisk looked at her.

Gray scoffed. "She blew off the top of a mountain that had once been an iron mine."

"WHAT?!" Erza stammered with wide eyes staring at Gray. __I knew she was strong enough to destroy towns, but a mountain top? Just how strong is Aether?__ Erza thought as she composed herself. It made sense though that Aether was that powerful. The Void Demon she grew up with was the strongest being she had known until meeting the guild master of Fairy Tail, one of the Ten Wizard Saints. Erza looked away from Gray to the lizardlisk that was walking away from the guild hall. "Wait." She called getting the six legged reptile to turn around to look at her. "Tell Aether that I want to see her as soon as possible."

Raz nodded. "I'll relay the message." He said then summoned his wings. The lizardlisk crouched and jumped into the air at the same time his four wings beat downwards to get airborne.

OoOoOoOoOo

"That should be the last piece of metal in you." Higgins said clearly tired if he wasn't adding in an insult to something he says to me.

I nodded. "You think my insides are good enough to eat solid foods?"

He scoffed. "I'm the human, you're the Void Demon. What do you think?"

I shook my head. There were a number of times I had to judge for myself if I wasn't hurt bad enough to be unable to eat solid foods, so I had a general idea of what that felt like. Though as a Magic Council Executioner I was supposed to listen to the medical specialist that oversaw our healing after battles. I sometimes listened to his advice but other times I don't. "My insides don't feel like jello so I think I'm fine." Despite a few days of sleep and healing my eyes were still regenerating. Being one of the more sensitive organs of the body it takes longer to regenerate them completely, much like many of the internal organs. The heart is a complicated matter on that note: if it is too badly damaged a Void Demon will die without outside assistance, but if the damage is minor our regeneration will fix it.

"You're good to eat solid foods girl." Higgins said leaving the tent.

"About time." I grumbled to myself. Slowly I got out of the bed feeling the weakness of sleeping in that for well over a week. At first my legs gave out but I steadied myself on the edge of the bed letting my legs awaken. A minute or so passed before I took a step, then another to make sure I could walk. Feeling that I wasn't going to face plant I moved away from the bed and outside of the tent. Sensing something in the air as I got out of the tent looking up. Raz came down slowly and landed a bit in front of me.

"Good to see you walking around." My lizardlisk commented. I smirked at his statement. "Last time you were missing four limbs."

"Healed enough to move around and eat solid foods, though eye sight is still out." I replied as I walked over to hug him. I wrapped my arms around his snout tightly before his front left arm draped over my form. It was more or less as close as he could get to a hug given his size.

"Speaking of solid foods." Raz commented reaching for something behind him. A few moments later the lizardlisk held out a section of meat for me. I could tell from the smell it was lizard meat.

"Awesome!" I cheered before grabbing the meat and eating with vigor. I ate the hunk of meat completely in about fifteen seconds or so. I licked my lips still feeling quite hungry so I began walking again aiming for Void Demon flesh. "Did the two make it back safely to Fairy Tail?"

"Yeah." Raz replied before I felt the dull thud of him walking next to me. "Erza Scarlet wanted me to relay a message to you."

"Oh?" I commented raising an eyebrow slightly turning to my left where Raz walked.

"She wants to see you as soon as possible." He supplied.

I smiled at that. It would be good to see her in person again rather than the few articles and photos of her that I've seen in Sorcerer Magazine over the years. Assuming Erza remembered what happened after getting to the mainland from the Tower of Heaven she'll more than likely be pissed off. Rightly so, because I didn't go back for her at the time and still haven't talked to her. I'm long overdue to let her know that I'm still alive.

"Over here Aether." A male voice commented from my right. I turned to it to see a thick tent that was a bit a ways away from the others. The guy was one of Yajima's Rune Knights from the shape of the robes on him. The tent was a large square with a tall point at the center. Behind the robe clad male was the entrance of the tent that was two flaps that could zip together to close it up. "There's some Void Demon flesh cut for you."

Hallelujah. I swiftly made my way over to the tent and entered it. The inside of the tent was like the one that held my bed, mostly barren. The only things in here was a table with trays of food. Three of those trays held Void Demon flesh while the others held more human food. Things like grapes, apples, small carrots, and slices of cheese. The fifth platter with food contained various meats from what I could smell. I bet those bits of meat are salami and other precooked meat sliced into coins. Grabbing one coin I bit into it confirming my suspicion. Finishing the coin of salami I moved down to the end of the table where a lone chair sat. I sat in it and pulled the platters with Void Demon flesh to me.

I wasted little time eating, feeling power return to me and my regeneration kick up to high speed. Ten or so minutes later the platters were empty of food and I was licking blood from my lips. I opened my eyes to see my fingers covered in blood. That wasn't surprising since I ate the Void Demon flesh with my hands. I sucked my fingers clean then spotted a small rag to the right of the blood coated platter. Using that I cleaned off the rest of the blood on my hands.

"I see you found the food tent." An old voice noted. I knew from their presence that it was Yajima who entered.

"Yeah, I was ravenous." I replied looking at him to see the man smile a little. "Out of curiosity is the room I booked at the Sunset resort still in my name?" That was something that had been bugging me for a bit. I had been around the area for more than just the time I had requested. So it is possible that they locked my stuff into a safe area to open up the room for others.

"A few hours after we set up the tent for you to recover in Captain Gates came here to see what happened. He was quite surprised to discover that you blew up the mountain top." Yajima said before reaching into his pants pocket to pull out his pipe and lite it with a minor fire spell. "Once I informed him of the details of the fight that broke out here he went to the Sunset Resort and told them to keep the room booked for you until you were healed enough to check out."

"That's a relief." I sighed feeling a small weight off my shoulders. "Is there any source of water nearby like a river or lake?"

"Why?" Yajima said raising an eyebrow.

"What, I can't go swimming?" I countered with a small pout.

Yajima shook his head briefly showing a grin. "There is a lake a ways to the west of here. It should be warm water this time of year."

I nodded then got up and left. Raz trailed behind me as I went west where the old man had said there was a lake. It felt good to move around after being on that bed for so long. Maybe two to three weeks or so. "How long did it take for Gray and Ultear to get to Fairy Tail?" I asked walking at a brisk pace having already exited the camp to a dirt trail.

"About a week and a half since they took the train to some town I forget the name of and walked the rest of the way to Magnolia." Raz answered. Aside from his thudding feet the forest around us was calm with a gentle breeze going through it.

"Assuming I've been recovering for three weeks those two moped around for a week and a half?" I said content with the warmth of the sun's rays that came through the foliage.

"More or less." Was the answer from Raz.

I face palmed with a sigh. I shouldn't really fault them for that given that they had never killed another human, until the job with me. They'll probably have nightmares for a while. However the others of Fairy Tail will help them get over it one way or another. Taking in a deep breath I smelled pine from the trees around me and water. A few minutes later I came to a clearing with a lake. The water's surface was so still it mirrored the sunny sky above it flawlessly.

"Did you really want to go swimming or was there another reason you asked about water sources?" Raz spoke as he moved to the edge of the lake. The lake was fairly large and completely surrounded by forest. From where I stood it was impossible to tell how deep it went.

With a flash of light the black pants and t-shirt I had on was switched out for a black colored bikini swimsuit with red lightning on it. "A bit of both." I replied. I hadn't read anything that would suggest if it was possible to walk on water or surfaces with just magic. That was the thing I wanted to test here at the lake besides getting to swim. Due to my blood that was something I rarely get to do. I don't exactly want to kill someone if they got exposed to it by swimming in the same water as me. I doubt that would actually happen, but better to safe than sorry.

"Okay." Raz commented moving into the lake where the water was up to his chest. "What are you going to do that needs a lake?"

"Just watch you curios bastard." I replied focusing magic to my feet. Looking down they were encased in a slight purple glow that came with my magic being a Void Demon. I really should try to do this with a solid object like a tree. But doing the harder exercise for magic control over the easier one is something I tend to do with many things. Turning my gaze back to the lake I walked into it. My left foot momentarily paused on the water's surface before sinking into the water. As Yajima had said the water was fairly warm so it would be a pleasant swim. I moved further into the lake until the water was up to my knees.

This was an appropriate depth that would get me results one way or another. I lifted my right foot out of the water channeling magic to it. Like before my foot paused on the water's surface before sinking in a bit. My foot stopped sinking when the water was just past my ankle. Slowly I applied weight to pull my other leg out of the water. Right as my left foot emerged from the water I lost my balance with my right foot sliding out form under me. I fell over and splashed into the water getting my whole body soaked. I sat up quickly hearing Raz roaring with laughter a ways form me. That wasn't bad for a first try of that technique. Ignoring the lizardlisk's laughter I tried again this time catching myself with my hands. After about half an hour I could walk in the water with my feet barely submerged, which was good progress.

"I didn't think it would be possible, but you're almost walking on the water's surface." Raz said floating out towards the deeper water of the lake.

"That's what I wanted to test here." I said stretching my arms over my head. I was a tad sore from falling over so many times. A break was in order so I went further into the lake to swim. It didn't take long to get to the deep portion since it dropped down steeply. I swam a few laps around the deep part of the lake then dived down to the bottom. The lake was far deeper than I thought forcing me to change my neck a bit to accommodate gills. Once I touched the bottom of the lake I swam back up to the surface dismissing the accommodation. "Can you smell anyone here Raz?" I asked right after breaking the surface and shaking my head.

I heard several deep breaths before his reply. "None, though you can sense things around you to about the same distance as my sense of smell."

"True enough." I commented sensing the world around me. I felt no large presences of magic near me aside from the low hum that came from the forest. With that I water walked to the edge of the lake that had a miniature beach. I summoned a blanket from my armor pocket dimension and dismissed my swimsuit. Putting the gray blanket on the miniature beach I heard Raz ext the water.

"Sunbathing?"

"I've been under the cover of a tent for three weeks. So I want to get sunlight while I can before leaving this lake for Kritch." I laid down on my stomach first then moved my hair to the the sides so my backside could get sunlight without being blocked. For some time I let my back soak up the sunlight then turned over to let my front get some sunlight too. When I opened my eyes I could see sky colored in orange and red that artists like myself would kill for. That was also when I felt a familiar presence coming towards me.

"What are you doing out here aside from sunbathing Aether?" Gajeel asked as he came out of the forest.

"I tested something out earlier and swam a bit for exercise." I replied sitting up and summoning a pair of black shorts and tank top. "What brings you to me metal-head?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the Master, and to see how you were doing." Gajeel replied. "Raz told me you were injured but you seem fine now."

"I did feast on Void Demon flesh earlier which is why I'm fully healed and can see." I supplied. "What about Jose Porla?"

"He's gearing up to do something." Gajeel noted crossing his arms over his chest. "The new blood of the guild are all gifted mages, but they do have some ingrained measure of dislike for Fairy Tail."

"I've noticed that."

"Master Jose feels darker as well." I raised an eyebrow at that. Gajeel only really said that about dark mages not lawful ones, even with those who use shadow magic. "Hatred seems to radiate from him when I'm near, let alone when someone mentions Fairy Tail."

I should have known! That bastard is priming to destroy Fairy Tail. "Do not trust that human. He is going to destroy the guild just to bring about the bloody end of Fairy Tail."

Gajeel's eyes widened before they narrowed. "He's jumped the shark, but what are we going to do?"

"I'm leaving the guild and will kill Jose Porla when I get the chance since he's going to attack Fairy Tail. It's only a matter of time." I said putting my right hand over the Phantom Lord guild mark on my left arm. I concentrated void energy over the mark to erase it. "Make sure to stop by the guild hall to tell Nissa of the situation. Then go find Juvia to inform her as well. I'll talk to Qrow before I go see Erza in person, I've been putting off seeing her long enough."

Gajeel put a hand on my shoulder. "What comes after informing Nissa and the rainwoman about the situation?"

I put a hand on his shoulder opposite the one he placed on mine. "Join Fairy Tail in their battle with Phantom Lord. I want you in particular to stop Aria and I'll focus on Jose since out of the guild only I have a hope of taking him on." Gajeel nodded then the two of us left for Kritch. Upon entering the city at night the Dragonslayer immediately went for the train station. I went to the Sunset Resort to retrieve my stuff.

"Welcome back War Maiden." The giant of a hotel clerk said as I passed him to the hotel room I had been renting on the ninth floor. My stuff had been moved into a neat pile in the corner chair by the bed. I guess that had been moved by the cleaning service. Within three minutes I was back down at the front desk signing out of the hotel. "I'm glad your feeling better, but what happened to your guild mark?"

I sighed as I signed my name left handed onto the clipboard. "I left Phantom Lord."

The man's eyebrows rose. "Hopefully you can find another guild to join." He said accepting the clipboard. Once he grabbed the clipboard I left the building to put the harness onto Raz.

"I want to be at Fairy Tail in a day." I said as Raz jumped up into the air.

The lizardlisk grunted. "Al-" He didn't get to finish his statement as the communication orb in my backpack flared with power.

I quickly fished out the orb only to have an image of Qrow appear, though blood dotted his face. There was a bad burn on one cheek while the other sported a bleeding scrape. His green hair was quite a mess that sported dirt and blood. "I need to see you now!"

"What have you gotten yourself into?" I asked while Raz flew slowly.

Qrow's image fluctuated briefly as I heard a crash. "Jose is going to destroy the guild just to bring down Fairy Tail!"

"I know." I commented. "Where are you?"

"South of the ruins of Canaby." Qrow replied letting out a grunt of pain. "Hurry!" The connection suddenly cut leaving me to stare at the magical sphere in my hand.

"Who was that?" Raz asked glancing back towards me.

I reached forwards to put the orb into the backpack. "Maximum speed to Canaby. Qrow is in trouble." At the mention of Qrow being in trouble Raz's form exploded with magical power allowing him to fly at incredible speeds. As the sun began to rise Raz slowed down spotting a trail of craters a little bit south of Canaby. I jumped off his back from up high to crash violently into the ground, signaling my arrival. As Deadpool would say a "superhero landing". All around me I felt dozens of bodies and active void magic.

"War Maiden has come!" Someone announced ahead of me. I stood up to be greeted by the sight of a fighting force of Void's Saw mercenaries. "She came to his aid just as he said she would."

"Jose Porla..." I growled. "That human will die by my hand." I spat with venom at the word "human". It was men such as him that gave me a dislike of humanity overall. And as far as I'm concerned they are the true demons, not my kind. I wasted no time encasing my form with void energy before rushing at them. They had to have been a large group to take on or even down Qrow since I was the only one stronger than him except the mad guild master. I could see many of the cultist mercenaries sported burns and other elemental wounds from a previous battle. They were no match for me as I attacked them with bone shattering force. I broke their bodies splattering my form with blood from severed limbs as I engaged them in melee combat.

I weaved my way through the mass of mercenaries creating a growing pile of broken bodies. They paused to surround me and leaped forwards. Fucking idiots. Before their void blades or weapons could hit me I counter attacked. " ** **Void Spines!**** " I called impaling them with a burst of spines from my form. More blood soaked into my clothing and hair from the open mouths of the fools that got too close. I drained the corpses of their power before dismissing the spines, letting the husks fall to the ground with a dull thump.

Those mercenaries at a distance began to move backwards away from me. I shook my head at them. "Running won't help." I said raising a hand to wave it in an arc towards them. ****"Void Geysers."**** with that a chain eruption of geysers obliterated more of the ground and the remaining mercenaries.

"Qrow's here!" Raz called. I tried to look for him but there was too much dust and smoke from burning things in the craters I made to see clearly. I felt their presences over by the ruined bridge that once led into Canaby. Rushing over to Raz I found a sight that hurt. Qrow was badly damaged with burns from void magic over most of his body. His chest had the worst burns that showed his ribs and a part of his right lung. His right arm was missing completely along with the outer portion of the right leg. Rasping breaths left the man's mouth as he tried to breath.

"They...lured me...into...a...trap." Qrow wheezed coughing up blood as he laid down next to the middle support beam of the bridge. I sat on my knees to the left side of his head.

"I killed them all." I said getting a blood stained smile from him. It hurt to see him dying, knowing there was nothing I could do to heal the damage. Again I looked over his body stopping once my eyes got to his gut where his insides were scrambled.

"Those...lunatics...deserved...it." He said coughing up more blood. "Aether..." Qrow paused making me look into the human's eyes. "Bury me...with my...wife..." Another pause to cough blood violently. At this point I couldn't keep tears from trying to form in my eyes. "And...give...Sylvia...my...necklace...tell...her...I'm...sorry." The human took his last breath before going limp. I lifted his torso onto my lap before removing Qrow's necklace. It was a wonderful piece of jewelry that was an enchanted silver chain with an octagon shaped case also made of silver. The case could be opened by clicking a small button to reveal a small photo of Qrow, his wife, and his daughter Sylvia at some lake. It was an old photo since Qrow had told me years ago that his wife had died of some illness when Sylvia was about six.

Putting the necklace to the side with my blood stained hands I held onto his body with both arms, putting my forehead onto his. My tears then flowed letting the pain of his death surface. It had been a long time since I'd felt like this. For some time I sat there crying before a giant paw was placed onto my shoulders. A sorrowful wine echoed from behind me as Raz joined me in the grief. I let myself cry a few minutes before putting his body down onto the ground gently. Grabbing the necklace in one hand I stood up to use the other one to clear my tears.

"Time to honor his request." I said swallowing my grief. I stuffed the necklace in my shorts pocket then picked up Qrow's battered corpse bridal style. "We'll go through the Void to the burial grounds." I said before a gateway, or portal, materialized in front of me. It was a large oval with two short spires of purple glowing stone at the base with the portal in between them. We walked through and the portal phased out of existence behind us. I welcomed the warm sensation around my body as if the Void was comforting me in a way. Nothing bothered the two of us as we walked down a dirt road bordered by forests of dark blue trees on one side that bled into a smooth aquamarine color on the other. It didn't take long for a small path to appear in the tree line of the aquamarine side of the forest. I turned down that to go down hill towards a portal that was a large stone circle with roots wrapped around the circle to keep it in place and upright.

It flared to life as I approached with a smooth surface that was emerald green in color. Stepping through the portal with Raz landed us back in Earthland at a special spot. It was a secluded area of forest that was primal with immense healthy trees that had primordial grass and plants that oozed magic from both the Void and Earthland itself. This was one of the more secured Void Ruins I had encountered thanks to Void's Saw. Very little sunlight touched the ground here with how old and large the trees were, but the plants glowed enough to provide ample light otherwise.

"Come to bury him with Sophie?" A deep echo like voice spoke, it is kinda like Treebeard from the Lord of the Rings.

I nodded. "Yes." I simply said to the walking tree that had approached me. They did also look a bit like the Ents, though the guardians of this ruin were shorter and more stocky.

Soft green glowing eyes looked at me compassionately. "It is unfortunate he did not live long enough to see grandchildren of his own." The tree spoke as it turned to lead the way further into the woods. The light the plants gave off was purple tinted due to the latent void energy in the area. For some reason this ruin had living guardians instead of the war machines I found at the others. We walked about seven minutes or so before stopping in front of a lone grave stone right next to a growing tree. Its small trunk was dotted with specks of violet light while other specks held a green glow. It was strange how those two magical energies mixed in balance here; chaotic void energy and calming primordial nature power.

Handing Qrow's body to the tree guardian I formed a shovel then began digging a grave. It wasn't long before I had dug enough to accommodate his body. The tree guardian knelt down to put Qrow into the grave. Once he moved out of the way I covered up the grave with the dirt I had dug up. I turned to go to the quarry to find a suitable stone to use as a gravestone, but Raz handed one to me. It was a bit heavy and already shaped into a tablet with an arch on the top.

"I will wait to do the funeral until those close to him are with you." The tree guardian said as I embedded the gravestone into the ground in one motion.

"Thanks Frelnar." I replied running a had over the smooth surface of the stone. With magic I carved the words "Champion of the Void-born" onto the gravestone. "I'll return with them when they are ready." With that out of the way I exited the ruins via the Void Portal to get back to the pathway between the two forests. Once at the dirt road I turned left to go towards the location where I could teleport to my house in Oak Town. Despite what people think the Void is a dimension that has no real limit to its space and rarely matches Earthland exactly, when it even does.

Instead the Void is more like space and planets where there are places with areas where life and materials can be found. Then there are also empty spaces that have nothing. You can move through those areas if you fly or create a pathway through magic. Because the Void doesn't match physically with Earthland it can be used to travel vast distances, assuming you can travel through the Void and live. If you know where you want to go in the Void you can simply open up a portal to that location and vise versa. The road continued past the edge of the forests to the base of mountains. At the base of the mountain range to the right of the road were rocky hills. I passed a number of them before turning to one. Most of these hills had large rooms that acted as some form of housing at one point, but have long since been abandoned.

The one I walked up to had a rectangular door in a style consistent with most depictions of Dwarven architecture. Runes etched into the stone ran along the borders of the door. Those were runes of magic I had created as a ward, since the object inside was a means to teleport into my house. The runes glowed purple at my presence for a few seconds. After that the glowing stopped at the same time the doors opened on their own. Raz entered and I followed hearing the stone doors close behind me. The room was large since it could easily accommodate the lizardlisk. It was bare except for what rested in the center.

In between me and Raz sat a carved stone that was something akin to a cone with a number of flat sides around it. The top of the thing was a fine point while the bottom was the widest occupying the small raised floor there. Each side of the teleport stone held a large rune carved into the surface that glowed with magic constantly running through it. Raz put a paw onto the stone as I placed a hand and the two of us sent a pulse of magic into it. There was a pause before magic pulsed form the stone to surround us. In that moment we teleported into my backyard.

"Feel free to stay here. I'm going to shower then walk over to Fairy Tail." I said hearing Raz slump onto the ground. With a key I unlocked the back sliding door then entered the house heading for my room. Once there I put my luggage on the bed before peeling off the blood soaked clothing and putting them into a basket in the bathroom, one reserved for blood stained clothing. I started the water of the shower stall before stepping inside. Thirty minutes later I was on road that led from Oak Town to Magnolia wearing a dark blue skirt that went to about mid thigh and a dark green long sleeve shirt. I had decided to wear short heeled shoes for once, similar to what Shizune or Tsunade wears in Naruto.

I could tell it was still morning from the sight of the town of Magnolia where shops were just opening. The streets were somewhat crowded with people going to and from places. Even though I was going to see Erza I had on another face mask and the disguises for my hair and eyes on. Just like with Phantom Lord in Oak Town Fairy Tail was easy to spot on the far side of the city by the coast. There seemed to be a river that ran through the center of town with a few people traversing it in boats. A reptilian growl caught my attention making me stop and look down. At my feet was a small dark green colored lizardlisk that was holding up its two front legs. After raising one I more or less knew what to look for with them.

I knelt down and picked up the tiny lizardlisk that was about the size of a small house cat holding it so that it was mimicking lying down. Once in my arms the lizardlisk began to purr as I gently rubbed the right side of its head that rested on my left elbow. "What brought you to me little one?" I spoke to the reptile in my arms. I wasn't expecting a reply simply because the lizardisk was small, which from my experience was in indicator of age. Of course there was the possibility that the lizardlisk in my arms was a different breed from the one Raz is.

"Kurt!" Shouted a young male voice from somewhere nearby. At the name the lizardlisk moved its head vaguely towards to my right. "Kurt! Where are you?" The voice sounded again but the lizardlisk made no effort to move more, probably pretty comfortable in my arms. A few moments later a young blond came around a corner facing me. His brown eyes focused on me before shifting to the reptile in my arms. "There you are..." He trailed off coming up to me. The guy appeared to be about thirteen or fourteen with a light blue long sleeve shirt and gray slack like pants. His blond hair barely reached his shoulders.

"This lizardlisk is yours?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," the blond answered. "Though he tends to venture away from me a lot."

"I see." I commented resuming the gentle petting the lizardlisk's head. "Is this a small breed of lizardlisk?" The teen in front of me nodded. "Kurt might be leaving you to seek attention elsewhere if you don't give him much. Lizardlisks at a young age crave attention and are quite content to be held such as now." I added gently shaking my arms up and down a little to get my point across.

"That makes sense I guess..." The blond trailed off before I heard heeled boots clicking on the cobblestone heading towards me. The person walking towards the two of us was another blond, but female and older than the one in front of me. The highly fashionable clothing of a short skirt and sleeveless shirt both dark green fit her form well. However it was the key ring I could see attached to her belt that let me know who it was, Lucy Heartfilia.

"Where have you been?" Lucy almost growled as she stared down the younger blond.

"Searching for Kurt." The blond male said gesturing to me. Lucy's eyes softened until they shifted to me.

"War Maiden?!" She stammered shocked but I could also see a hint of fear. At this the people around us looked at me for a few seconds then went back to their business. If she was anything like I remember from the series Lucy would have read everything about me or other famous mages in Sorcerer Magazine. That would let her know how powerful I am.

"Yeah." I supplied handing over Kurt to the younger blond who accepted him carefully as the lizardlisk had apparently fallen asleep in my arms. It was then I noticed the stars in Lucy's eyes. I've seen that look before in some of my more...fanatical fans, and it never ended well for them. In most cases I beat some sense into them or the fools got themselves killed trying to follow me on a mission to eradicate a dark guild or a contingent of Void's Saw. That is if I wasn't slaying some S-rank monster.

"Can I get your autograph?" She spoke and I let out a breath I didn't realize I had held. I nodded though I'd have to get something to write with as I didn't have a pen or pencil on my person for once. "Would you like to go shopping with me or out to lunch?" She added causing the younger blond to groan.

"Not to crash your excitement, but that sounds a lot like you asking me out on a date." I said causing her eyes to go wide as her face lit up crimson in embarrassment.

"No, no, no, no!" She quickly stated waving her hands in front of her. "I didn't mean it like that!"

I shrugged but smirked under the mask. It was useful for hiding facial expressions even if I wasn't planning on wearing it for much longer. "I just wanted to make sure." I commented. "It's not always easy to tell with some of my fans."

"Where is the lizardlisk that you raised?" Lucy asked making the younger blond look between her and me.

"He's sleeping at my house in Oak Town." I answered. "Is Sylvia Kain at Fairy Tail or Erza Scarlet? I need to talk to the both of them."

"I don't know." Lucy replied. "I was heading down to the guild when my brother, Michael, here had to search for Kurt."

"Lead the way." I said gesturing forwards. Lucy nodded then she and her brother started heading for Fairy Tail as I followed them. The trip was fairly quick with the people of Magnolia moving aside for the three of us. The double doors of the guild hall were open allowing me to see inside. It was largely empty as far as I could tell, since I didn't see many members there. There was a number of them I recognized such as Cana who was drinking from a keg while she sat on one end of the bar. At a table not too far away were the two men Macao and Wakaba, both average mages that employed fire or smoke to get the job done.

The giant of a silver haired mage Elfman stood in front of the large job request board that was as tall as him. Levy sat at a table to the far left engrossed in a blue colored book with a title I couldn't read from here. Mirajane stood behind the bar with a smile on her face and a calm aura as her eyes scanned over the mages in the hall. The third silver haired mage, Lisanna, walked around with a tray in her hands that held mugs filled with some form of drink. The final person I could spot was a green haired female that matched Qrow's description of his daughter Sylvia Kain.

From the few pictures I had seen of Sophie Sylvia took after her more than Qrow, except hair color. She was a lean woman with a wiry build that contained a lot of muscle. Slyvia was quite the looker with a body that would make many men drool or some females jealous, like most of the women in Fairy Tail it seems. She was clothed in blue jeans with a white tank top that I suspect would show a fair bit of cleavage. She appeared to be preoccupied with a large tome in front of her that I could sense held void energy in it. Mirajane's eyes widened in surprise briefly as she spotted me before she composed, but she did motion me over to her. Michael went off to a table of his own to put down Kurt while Lucy and I went up to the bar. We sat down next to each other in front of Mira who extended a hand.

"A pleasure to finally meet you in person War Maiden." Mira said sounding as happy as she appeared.

I accepted her hand and gave it a short firm shake. "Likewise."

"Don't you usually have a lizardlisk with you?" Mira asked looking behind me.

"I asked her that earlier." Lucy said shifting our attention to her. "According to War Maiden the lizardlisk is sleeping at her house."

"I'm surprised you didn't visit sooner." Mira said getting me to raise an eyebrow as I turned to her. That sounded as if she knew what I was already. She may know because of being a demon take over mage, or she was told by Gray and Ultear. Probably the latter. "The only two mages we allow in here from Phantom Lord are Qrow and you. Even if you didn't come here till now."

"Thanks." I said then pulled down my mask so it rested around my neck. "Get me a ginger cider if you have one, if you don't I'll take a blackberry. And I'd like to have an egg scramble."

"We happen to have a keg of ginger cider, but only one person drinks it. And I can make that for you." Mira replied moving away towards what I assume was the kitchen.

"What do you usually do when you get to the guild hall?" I asked Lucy who jumped slightly. Did she space out or something?

"I-I um..." Lucy stuttered before hanging her head. "I usually come here to the bar to talk to Mira..."

I chuckled. "I do that too, but I talk to one of the bar maids at the Oak Town branch of Phantom Lord."

Lucy looked shocked before she composed herself. "I thought I was weird for doing that."

"There's plenty of others in Phantom that do that as well. Including Gajeel who usually sits at the bar with me." I said making the blond celestial mage relax.

"Is it true that you only do S-class jobs Aether?"

"More or less. After all that's what I started on training under Qrow."

"Why don't you go give the job board a look Lucy?" Mira said as she placed down a full mug in front of me. "I think there are a few easy ones there today."

"Okay." Lucy said getting up from her stool heading for the job board.

"You said that just to get her out of earshot didn't you?" I asked getting a nod from Mira. "I assume you already know what I am."

"Gray and Ultear told me about their first time killing at Kalen." Mira said her mood darkening a little bit. "What exactly brings you here?"

"Two people." I supplied. "One is already here while the other one..." I paused reaching out with my sense of magic across Magnolia. Just after that touched the edge of the city I felt a group of three familiar presences: Erza, Gray, and Ultear. "Just arrived in town with two others."

"Wow." Mira commented. "I thought those comments in Sorcerer Magazine about your sensing abilities were exaggerated."

"Nope." I sighed. "I bare good and bad news for two different people." I took a drink from my mug humming in appreciation at the taste of it. It was then that Mira left again so I closed my eyes to prepare myself for telling Sylvia that her father was dead. I got up from my seat and sat down by the green haired void mage.

"Hello Aether." Sylvia said not even looking up from the tome in front of her. "Why haven't you come before now? Didn't Qrow tell you that you are welcome here?"

I shrugged. "He might have told me at some point, but I tend to keep myself busy with S-class jobs." I said reaching into a pocket to pull out Qrow's necklace. "Sylvia...your father died early this morning."

Sylvia's head turned to me in a heartbeat. "He's dead?" She asked, voice quiet.

I put Qrow's necklace onto the table near her. Blood still stained the beautiful silver chain. "Qrow wanted you to have it, and he wanted me to tell you that he was sorry."

"Thank you." Sylvia said barely containing the tears that threatened to fall.

I put a hand on her shoulder. "When you are ready I can take you to the burial grounds along with anyone else you want to bring." She nodded clutching the necklace to her chest. I moved back to where I had been sitting at the bar as Mira placed down a plate covered in scrambled eggs. I could see and smell onions, mushrooms, garlic, and small pieces of meat.

"I hope you like it Aether." Mira said slightly sounding nervous.

Using a fork provided with the plate I took a bite. It was very good, definitely lived up to her rumored cooking skills. "It's awesome." I said before digging in quickly.

Mira stood there watching with a giggle as I ate the food in record time. "Am I safe to assume the other person you need to talk to is Erza?" I nodded. "There are some things you need to know."

I raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."

Mira leaned in close to me. "Erza has told me that she's masturbated to you a number of times. She is also a lesbian."

That's a surprise. I knew I loved Erza or at least have some sort of feelings for her. But I had no idea what she felt for me, if anything. Now I find out she has the hots for me. "That's flattering, but how do you know Erza is a lesbian?" I whispered back seeing Mira's cheeks take on a noticeable red tint. "You've had sex with her before haven't you?"

"Yeah." Mira responded before she put her hands onto her cheeks to hide the blush. "It's embarrassing to talk to you about it-"

"Because I'm the one Erza loves." I finished for Mira getting a nod. "I suspect Erza will start a fight with me when she gets here."

"Eh?" Mira stammered pulling back, her blush gone. "Why?"

I sighed sensing that Erza wasn't too far from the guild hall. "You'll find out shortly." I replied turning to face the entrance. At the same time I let the my true hair and eye color show. I heard a nearly inaudible gasp from Mira behind me. A few moments later Erza stopped in the doorway with that massive pile of luggage behind her, and the two ice mages to her left. Both Gray and Ultear became pale as they spotted me while Erza stood frozen. I smirked at their reactions but before I could say anything someone else spoke.

"What smells otherworldly in here?" That voice belonged to the pink haired Dragonslayer of Fairy Tail, whom walked into the guild hall passing by Erza, Gray, and Ultear.

I chuckled. "You aren't the only Dragonslayer to comment on that Natsu."

"Yo-you know another Dragonslayer?!" He asked shock clearly on his face.

"Gajeel Redfox, an Iron Dragonslayer." I said then turned my eyes to Erza whose eyes focused on me.

"Aether Wade..." Erza trailed off as one of her eyes shifted in form. It was the eye that had been removed all those years ago in the Tower of Heaven. I guess she grew a new eye instead of getting the fake as she did in the series.

I knew this was going to be a fight, but if we went at it in here the guild hall wouldn't survive. "Is there a battle area near the guild hall?"

"Yes. On the coast behind the guild building." Mira supplied.

I stood up heading for the door. "We'll fight out back on the beach." I said gesturing behind me with a thumb, Erza nodded. The battle arena if I can even call it that was little more than a barely marked circle on the beach behind the guild building. It was very small for the amount of power both Erza and I could throw around. Once on the far side of the circle I stopped to see Erza across from me, and a crowd behind her.

"I, Makarov Dreyer, will monitor the fight due to the strengths of the two participants." The short white haired old man that emerged from the crowd said. It was easy for me to feel the raw power he emanated lazily marking that he was indeed one of the Ten Wizard Saints. He walked over to the flat stump of a tree before jumping on top of it. This gave him a clear view of the pitiful arena.

"Kick her ass Erza!" Natsu called from behind Titania's left side. He stood next to most of the present guild members. Even Mirajane and Lisanna came out to watch.

"Which form of magic will we fight with? Void, Knight, or any of them?" I asked mimicking Gajeel's battle hungry grin that showed a fang. I stood there waiting for Erza to say something but she never did. "Here I go!" Charging forwards I got right next to Erza in a few seconds before summoning the Black Wing Sword. I swung the weapon with my left hand in an arc that would cut her in half. With a surprised grunt Erza stopped my weapon with a normal sword, but that didn't stop the shock wave from thundering outwards behind her.

Erza's eyes were shocked before the anger appeared back in them again. It was anger at me for leaving her alone all those years ago on the beach when I had promised her that I'd return. Anger that I didn't make an effort to reach out to her until now. And maybe anger at me for hiding what I am. "Aether..." She growled summoning another blade in her off hand that she thrust at my head. I leaned out of the way of the attack then rolled backwards to get some distance between us. "Anything goes."

"Perfect." I chirped placing a hand on the sand. " ** **Void Frost Geyser.**** " At that moment a geyser of void ice erupted from under Erza's feet. The ice blasted her off her feet and a little to the side. As expected she had switched to the Frost Empress Armor. With a swing of her armor weapon a wave of ice came for me. ****"Lavamaw."**** I said changing out my weapon for a different one. As I cranked the lever the dragon's head looking flamethrower unleashed a gout of lava. It was one of those weapons that required two hands to wield, but being a Void Demon I could get around that. The wave of ice was obliterated within seconds forcing Erza to doge the spray of lava that melted sand where it failed to hit a target.

"Another approach then." Erza commented changing to Flight armor holding a broadsword. She surged forwards at high speeds that the Flight Armor granted, but I had a surprise for her. I also switched to it and a sword in one hand named Galefury. It was a powerful magical weapon that utilized a combination of wind and lightning magic. One thing about it was the ability to create a mirror blade that is nearly as powerful as it, but made from pure magical energy.

Electricity roared from Galefury as Erza's weapon collided with it. As she was momentarily stunned I dashed around to her backside for a diagonal slash with the mirror blade, Tempest Turn. Erza barely got out of range in time earning a small slice from Tempest Turn.

"This is incredible..." I heard Lucy trail off form the sidelines.

"You can say that." Another female commented as I caught a glimpse of Cana standing next to the celestial spirit mage.

"C'mon Erza! Make this a challenge!" I taunted getting a grin from her. She summoned the Black Wing Sword into her free hand. Then she attacked and we spent some time striking and parrying blows at blurring speeds. After a two minutes I saw and opening and struck. Knocking away her weapons I scored a several slashes on her arms, one on the stomach, and one on her cheek. Right after the flurry of attacks I rolled backwards barely dodging a downwards strike. Once on my feet I sprinted to start running in circles around her as well as dismissing my weapons. The effect was immediate. The sand created a thick smoke screen that went up quite a distance. Erza's eyes narrowed as she scanned the wall of sand that I was creating.

Once Erza looked away from her right side I charged in low kicking her in the chest violently. She flew high up into the air coughing from the force. There was enough force in that kick to blow away the sand so those watching could see. I wasted no time going for my next attack. " ** **Void Cannon.**** " I called summoning a cannon into my hands made of void energy.

I saw Erza inhale as her cheeks puffed up. " ** **Void Demon's Roar!**** " She called as I pulled the trigger. The breath attack impacted the cannon shot about fifteen or so feet above the ground. Her breath attack almost canceled out my cannon shot but some of it got through. However I couldn't see any marks on her form from that. That stunned me. It was a mirror image of The Commandant surviving my void mines without major injury. A series of attacks along my body woke me from my stupor.

Erza had scored cuts along my arms, one one my side, a slash on my back, and a thin cut across my nose. "How did you manage to avoid injury from the cannon shot?" I asked deflecting a sword before leaning out of the way of another.

"Got to figure that one out yourself Aerther!" Erza countered as we clashed blades again. After a few blows she jumped back switching to another armor. This time it was the Lightning Empress armor along with the spear for it.

"Two can play at that game." I said also switching to the same armor and weapon. I smirked at her frown. "Hard to fight someone who uses the same magic and armor as you do huh?"

"Just a bit." Erza admitted as she thrust the spear point forwards. At the tip of it was a ball of sparking magic. Just as the ball unleashed a beam of lightning magic at me I slashed the arc vertically, sending a wave of magic that split Erza's beam safely to either side of me. Erza dismissed her weapon in favor of two swords before coming for me. With the Lightning Empress Spear I parried her attacks as she went by me. I turned keeping my eyes on her, which also allowed me to see the ocean behind her.

"Enough!" Makarov called making us look to the old man. "You fight very well Aether Wade."

In a flash I wore the clothing I had on before the spar with Erza. Turning around I saw Erza close in then an armored fist slammed into my jaw. I landed a few yards away on my back. I leaned up on my elbows as Erza straddled my waist cocking a fist back. She punched me in the chest, but it lacked the power she had been using in our spar. "Why?" She said her voice beginning to tremble as she punched with the other arm with the same lack of strength. "Why didn't you you come back for me?" Tears formed in her eyes before running down her cheeks. "Do you know how hurt I was that you might have died when I found all that blood on the sand? I didn't know where you had gone...Until I read about a twelve year old girl in Phantom Lord that became an S-class wizard."

I glanced around to see no one making a move to stop this. They watched with understanding. It was something Erza needed to speak to me about. "That was the only lead I had. A girl exposed to Void Demon blood that had the same name as the demon I grew up with." Erza paused to grab my shirt instead of repeatedly hitting me in the chest. "I often went to sleep wondering where you were and if you even remembered me..."

I took a deep breath closing my eyes, then exhaled slowly opening them. "For all its worth... I'm sorry Erza." I said making her look me in the eyes with her non-matching ones. One brown and the other characteristic silver of Void Demons. "If I could have gone back to you then I would have, but it was out of my control." I paused trying to keep a lid on the guilt I felt. Tears were trying to form in my eyes. "I got into a fight while looking for food that put me out of commission for a while. By the time I woke up Qrow offered me membership to Phantom Lord and I accepted. Then I focused on my life to try and move on from the pain of the Tower." I explained getting a few curios looks at the mention of "pain of the Tower" but they wouldn't know what I was talking about except for the woman straddling my waist. "I should have come seen you sooner, but I couldn't work up the nerve. I thought you would hate me for turning you into a half demon." The tears that had formed in my eyes could no longer be contained and ran down my cheeks.

"I don't." Erza said her voice still trembling a little. My eyes widened in surprise. "It was difficult at first but it is the greatest gift I have ever received, even if it was to save my life back then." She wiped my tears away with an armored hand.

"That means a lot, Erza." I said feeling touched and relieved, a weight finally off my back. "I've never forgotten you over the years. You were always on my mind on some level. When I'd go to sleep I'd think about you and if you were alright." I paused to take a calming breath as well as drag up all the courage I could muster for what I was about to say. Taking on entire guilds by yourself takes courage. But to open up your heart to another? To allow them into the most vulnerable part of you? It takes another level of courage to do that. "I've had feelings for you for a long time...Strong enough to say that...I love you."

Erza's eyes widened significantly as her tears stopped flowing. "You love me?" She said voice echoing uncertainty.

"Y-yeah." I stammered as my cheeks flushed red matching the color of my hair. "Do yo-" I didn't get to finish the sentence as Erza slammed her lips against mine in a kiss. She wasted no time thrusting her tong into my mouth and exploring it. I moaned into the kiss then tried to kiss her back. I had no idea what to do in honesty, but I tried to wrestle her tong with mine. It wasn't long before I lost the battle and eventually the need for air caused us to separate.

"Does that answer your question?" Erza asked smirking with cheeks matching the color of her hair. Despite that blush she had a satisfied look on her face.

"Definitely." I replied then I fell back to the sand and put my arms around Erza to hug her. She squealed at the sudden movement falling with me. She returned the hug fiercely with a lot of force. It was then I felt a presence in the air near us. That presence was Raz whom landed in the water a ways from us. I looked in his direction to see a rain of droplets hit the water's surface before he surfaced and landed on the beach.

"So you finally confessed?" Raz asked and I nodded.

"What are you doing here?" I asked surprised to see him.

Raz sat down and held up his front two legs in a shrug. "I got bored at home, plus I come with some alarming information."

"I'm listening." Erza and I said at the same time. I chuckled at our timing then waited for Raz to continue.

The lzirardlisk looked around to the gathered crowed. Then to the man who was smaller than everyone else. "Are you Makarov Drayer?"

"I am." Makarov replied calmly watching my lizardlisk.

"Phantom Lord is about to declare war on Fairy Tail."

"How do you know this?" Erza spoke with concern and worry in her voice.

"The strongest mage in Phantom Lord besides Aether was killed early this morning by Void's Saw." Raz answered generating a series of surprised gasps. "Aether killed all the attackers, but I went to the Oak Town building to speak to the barmaid Nissa. It was there that I overheard Jose Porla asking the creepy earth mage to capture the 'blond celesital mage of Fairy Tail or her brother'."

"That's not all of it." I spoke getting the attention of the Fairy Tail mages. "I'm sure you know Makarov that Jose has a hatred of your guild." The old balding mage nodded. "It is bad enough that he is wanting to kill you all just to get rid of the competition."

"That is dire news." Makarov commented putting a hand on his chin.

"Especially considering I am obligated to capture or kill him as a Magic Council Executioner." I sighed. Erza squeezed me then untangled herself from me. She pulled me up as she stood having held onto one of my hands. "I've never taken on a Wizard Saint, though I do have plenty of experience dealing with guilds on my own."

"You take on entire guilds by yourself!?" Lucy asked clearly dumbstruck.

She reads Sorcerer Magazine...Lucy should know this. Then again that wasn't exactly public knowledge. I shrugged at her statement. "Regularly. That has resulted in entire towns being destroyed on several occasions." I explained rubbing the back of my head with my free hand.

I felt Erza grab my left arm and push the sleeve up to my elbow. "What happened to your Phantom Lord mark?"

"I erased it." I replied. "Phantom Lord was never really a home to me in honesty."

"Didn't you loose your arms and legs when you blew up the mountain top?" Raz asked tilting his head as he looked at me. I nodded. "That would mean that before you removed the guild mark it also appeared back on after your left arm regenerated."

I narrowed my eyes at him skeptically. That was definitely weird. Wouldn't the mark disappear with the limb it was on, even after it grew back? Or was that part of the magic of a guild mark? "That's a interesting observation." I could sense the sweat drops of those around us.

"It's the magic link of a guild mark." Makarov said making us look to him. "Even if a Void Demon looses a limb that had a guild mark placed on it the symbol will reappear with it. With that mark you are connected to the guild it belongs to, unless that bond is severed on your own or by the guild master."

"Makes sense I guess." I commented. I turned my attention to Erza whose eye reverted to the normal brown. "What do you want to do next?"

Erza hummed in thought. "Cloths shopping?" She offered.

That wasn't something I really enjoyed, but I guess that comes from cloths shopping by myself. Then there was the fact I was always doing jobs so I tended to just get clothing I could fight in, or that were applicable for particular elements. That did remind me that I hadn't bought new cloths in a while... "Sure." I answered before Erza started walking. I caught up with her in a step or two before she could pull me along.

It wasn't long before the two of us were walking down the streets of Magnolia. A number of people, mainly guys, looked at Erza and I with interest. It was easy to see the barely retrained lust in some of their eyes. However the women who stared at us glared jealously making me smirk inwardly. I had no idea what store Erza was leading me to, but I followed her since she knew the city better than I did. We took a right off the main street of Magnolia for a smaller one. From there another left was taken at the first intersection where I could see clothing stores.

There was a number of them lined up at the end of the small street, five in total. Four of the five clothing shops rested on either side of the street while the fifth and largest was at the end of it. Erza ignored the smaller stores in favor of the largest one at the end.

"This is the store I go to for cloths since the other ones don't have things in my size." Erza explained as we entered while pointing to her chest.

I nodded in understanding. There was only one clothing store in Oak Town that actually had bras that fit me. That store also carried much of the clothing I tended to buy. "Oak Town only has one clothing store with large enough bras." I commented getting Erza to look at my chest then to hers.

"Your chest is as big as mine." She said causing me to laugh a bit. As expected this store was loaded with isles of clothing. Everything was displayed form men's under ware and sleep ware to women's lingerie and swimsuits.

"Bloody hell there's a lot." I said glancing over what we could see of the store from the entrance. It was a one story building so Erza and I could pretty much see just about everything.

"Of course silly." Erza said with a smile as she shook her head. "Its the largest clothing store in Magnolia."

With my free hand I gestured forwards. "Lead the way, my lady." With that Erza led me over to the left side of the store where all the female clothing was located. We passed a few isles that held coats of various kinds, from windbreakers to designer coats. "Any particular thing you want here?"

She pulled me down an isle containing various dresses. Many of them were in bright colors and appeared to be summer dresses, if the mannequin at one end was anything to go by. The dress on it was a light green that hugged the chest and shoulders before loosening up around the waist to end just above the knees. In the middle of the isle Erza spun around and kissed me. Before I could return the action she pulled back. "I want to see you naked more than anything, but I also want to see you in various clothing."

I smiled. "That can be arranged. And what do you mean by 'various clothing'?"

Erza released her hand from mine to take a few steps back. "You look amazing dressed like this." She gestured at me with a wave of one hand. "And as your girlfriend I desire to see you in other clothing." She added as her cheeks became tinted red.

I couldn't argue with that. After all I did want to see Erza in a variety of different clothing as well. "If I'm going to try on clothing for you you are going to try on clothing for me."

Erza closed the distance and kissed me again, but this time let me return the favor. We stayed like that for a minute or so before Erza moved back just out of range. "Deal." She answered turning her attention to the clothing around us. I watched as Erza grabbed a few summer dresses that were in colors ranging form dark red to ocean blue. She moved further down the isle where longer dresses were located. Again she grabbed several dark colored ones before turning to me. "Now for the changing rooms."

"That can't be all of it." I said following the armor mage out of the isle and to the visible changing rooms along the wall.

"Of course not." Erza giggled as she stopped in front of one of the changing rooms. Not to far form it was a bench for people to wait on that contained a cushion on it. She handed me the cloths she had picked out, making my hands full holding them. As I passed Erza she smacked my ass lightly. I let out a surprised yelp and hurried off to the changing room hearing the melodic laughter of the armor mage.

I put the clothing onto a bar towards the ceiling of one wall of the square changing room. It was decently sized where I had plenty of room to move around and lots of bench space to sit down. There was probably enough bench space for someone to lie down on it. I put my hand on my chin trying to figure out which one to try on first. Scanning over the hanging dresses my eyes settled on the dark red one. With a thought my clothing vanished except for the two things I wanted to have stay on me: bra and panties. The dark red dress held a somewhat visible pattern of vines with thorns on it also in another shade of red, but lighter than the rest. It partially matched my hair and Erza's which was more or less the same color. The dress slipped on fairly easily until I had to zip up the back.

With a sigh I quietly commanded. " ** **Void Clone.**** " This created a solid clone that was better than the one Ice-make could conjure up. For one the clone could think for itself as well as take a lot more hits before dispelling. Now that I think about it Void Clones behaved much in the same way as Shadow Clones from Naruto. Though I didn't know if I could get their memories after they got dispelled or not since I don't use them much.

"Hey boss." The clone chirped zipping up the part of the dress I couldn't quite reach. That zipper was located towards the upper middle of my back. "You might need some more help with the rest of them."

"Probably." I commented to the clone, more or less talking to myself. It was a strange feeling when yourself could talk back like the clone could. Nonetheless I exited the changing room finding out the floor was cold laminated tile. "How's this?" I asked getting Erza to look me over slowly. As she did that I felt a little hot waiting for her to give me some form of answer.

"That's a keeper." Erza commented and I released a breath I didn't know I had held. "It goes with your red hair and silver eyes, plus that's one I could ware just as well."

I walked the short distance to Erza and lightly flicked her on the forehead with a grin. "You and I are the same size, of course you can wear my clothing." With that I gave her a kiss and pulled back before she could participate. Erza pouted a little causing me to giggle. "I might need your help with the other dresses if they have a zipper like this one." I added moving my hair out of the way to show her.

"If you need help how did you zip this up?" Erza asked confused as I turned around.

"I made a clone to do it since I can't reach there." I explained.

"You can make clones like Gray can?"

I nodded. "Yeah. The Voidslayer magic employed by Void Demons is like a mixture of Dragonslayer and Ice-make magic. Which explains why it is so destructive and flexible. Unlike the clones an Ice-make wizard can conjure up 'void clones' as they are called are much better in every aspect."

"Damn right we are!" My clone commented exiting the changing room. I turned around to see her dressed in what I had on before getting into the dress Erza picked out for me. The clone looked exactly like me, which could allow them to be mimics of Erza if need be. "Do you want the boss to have me help her or are you going to? The rest of the summer dresses you picked also have a zipper where she can't reach easily."

Turning around awarded me with a dazed Erza who was frozen. I poked her nose with a finger snapping the half demon out of her stupor. She blushed before responding. "I-I'm content watching, so you can help her with the other dresses."

"I see." Me and my clone said at the same time before making our way back to the changing room. Once back in the changing room I actually paid attention to my image in the full length mirror to one wall that didn't have a bench seat. The dress fit rather nicely showing my curves without being too tight for comfort. The dress itself ended about mid thigh while the material was light weight, giving off the feeling I could move in it. To test that out I threw several punches at my clone whom barely put her hands up in time to catch them.

"What was that for?!" The clone barked as I pulled my hands back to unleash another wave of punches. She caught all of those easily, though some dust came off the upper part of the walls by the ceiling.

I smirked. The dress flowed with my movement easily. It felt good knowing that I could fight in this if I had to. "That was to see if I could fight in this dress."

"Oh." The clone said. "That makes sense, besides the material feels nice doesn't it?"

I raised an eyebrow then grabbed a part of the lower portion of the dress. As my clone had said the material was a soft cloth. "You're right." I commented showing my back to the clone. "Now for the others." Over the next ten minutes I showed Erza the different summer dresses she had picked out. Out of the six of them Erza liked four: the dark red one, a forest green one, a blue one that reminded me of Jellal's hair, and a silver one. The other two were orange and golden yellow. I wasn't really a fan of those two colors and Erza agreed. Plus those two summer dresses had flower patterns to them.

The shape of the design was fine, but in honesty the different shades of color for them were not. The golden yellow one's flowers were of a light green that reminded me too much of the horrible image of Higgins wearing that puke yellow green shirt. The orange one on the other hand wasn't quite as revolting. The flowers on it were a light shade of blue like the sky on a sunny day. Though that one just didn't quite fit with my red hair and silver eyes.

I grabbed the two dresses Erza did not like and handed them to the clone. "Put those back then come here, I may or may not need your help with these ones." I gestured to the other group of clothing hanging on the left wall. Those were the longer dresses Erza had picked. It was a bit odd that Erza picked clothing that wasn't skimpy for me to try on first...

My clone shrugged. "I don't think you'll need it, but I'll be back anyway." With that she left me alone in the changing room. I grabbed one of the five dresses that were left from Erza's pick and held it to my form. The dress I held was a dark blue almost black in color that appeared to end a little above my feet. With a thought I dismissed my undergarments then put the dress on. It was easy to put on myself and didn't have anything I couldn't reach. Looking down let me know the dress had a v-neck to it that showed a large bit of cleavage. Sensing that my clone was just about to reach the bench where Erza sat I left the changing room.

Erza's eyes snapped to me quickly, though I could tell where she was looking. "It's lovely."

"Is that so?" I asked leaning forward purposefully giving Erza a great view. I saw my clone stop and whistle as my girlfriend stared at my chest. She could probably tell that I had dismissed my bra. "If you like it that much we'll just get the other ones too. Now, what is next?" I stood up as she composed herself. Sensing that Erza and I were the only two on this side of the store I took off the dress then ex-quipped back into my earlier clothing.

"Swim suits?"

"The boss has several that that fit snugly." My clone replied.

"Let's go find the lingerie section." I suggested getting my clone to smirk knowingly while Erza's eyes widened as her face became a tomato. I stepped over to her to whisper in her ear. "I know you want to see me in some as much as I want to see you in some." Erza simply nodded as I pulled back.

Erza stood up and walked down the isle towards the back past the changing rooms. "I've looked in that section before, but I never picked anything..." she trailed off probably still quite red in the face. It wasn't long before the first article of lingerie was visible on a rather small chested mannequin sporting a simple see through black bra like top and panties with some sort of stockings covering the legs.

Entering the isle proper there was rows of various colors and materials on either side. Erza went forwards keeping her eyes on the left side, so I started going over the right side. "Hopefully the store has these in our size..." I trailed off as a few lingerie caught my eye. The first was a light blue one that was a short silky dress, the second was a corset and see through panties in dark green. The last one was a two piece in black that was see through with a flower design on it. Going through them I found each in the right size and turned to Erza who held several hangers with lingerie on them.

"I found some for you." Erza said handing me her selection so I gave mine to her. We quickly made our way back to the changing rooms, but this time went for the larger one. This one was large enough for two people to be in comfortably and a big bench to sit on. As with the other changing room it held a mirror on the left wall for a full body view. In the middle of the room was a curtain that could be drawn for some semblance of privacy.

I put Erza's collection of lingerie onto the bar for hanging clothing. Then I picked one at random and dismissed my cloths again. The one I picked out was a black see through cloth that was something of a short dress. I put it on quickly before pulling the curtain back. "How's this?" I asked with a smile. Erza nodded her head furiously with her eyes never leaving me. I felt my heart beat faster as I start to feel myself get hot again. There was a pause as my cheeks became red then my clone entered. She pushed me back behind the line for the curtain then closed it.

Taking that one off I put on the next one; a purple silk dress that had see through cloth over my breasts then silk beneath that ending not much after my crotch. My clone dismissed her cloths then put on another one. She put on the red one of the six Erza had chosen. It was dark red in color with a thin see through cloth for bra and panties, and the set came with matching stockings/leggings.

My clone trailed a finger down the center of lingerie I had on with an approving look. "If I like this I know Erza will, and you of course."

I smiled as the clone took off her lingerie. "Good point." I commented also taking off the one I had put on. Once it was back on the hanger I summoned the cloths from earlier. As the clone conjured up her copy of my cloths I put a hand on her shoulder. I channeled some power into the clone to make it stronger. "I want you to go to go into the Void and find a place where a house can be built. Once you've done that secure the area and then begin construction."

The clone saluted. "Will do boss." She said then disappeared in a flash of purple light. That is the visual for when anyone teleports into the Void on their own without opening a portal to there.

I pulled back the curtain confusing Erza as I didn't have on another of her selections. "I'm quite satisfied with how these look." I said gesturing at her choices that hung on the bar behind me. "We can see the rest of the lingerie later, so lets get some other cloths."

"Like what?" Erza asked standing up and putting the lingerie into a bag that my clone had somehow acquired. "And where did your clone go?"

"I sent my clone to the Void. As far as cloths goes I was thinking warm weather stuff. Though I could use a bit of everything." Considering how many times my cloths get ruined from combat I tend to go through them quickly.

Erza grinned. "Let's go!" Several hours later we exited the store holding a number of bags of cloths each. It had been quite fun to show off clothing choices to each other. "That was an interesting experience."

I raised an eyebrow. "I take it cloths shopping is different with Mira or Lucy?"

She nodded. "Quite a bit. Lucy aims for fashionable clothing that looks great regardless of if it works with our occupation. Mira tends to get clothing that is nice looking, and ultimately less flashy than the stuff Lucy gets." Erza paused as we separated to let a group of kids race between us on the street. Some guy in dusty priest robes swiftly followed the children trying to get them to listen to him. "You on the other hand choose clothing that is solidly practical for combat, and if it looks good that is a bonus." She finished.

"Makes things easier on me so I don't have to put so much clothing into my armor pocket dimension." I replied making Erza smile. At our pace it wasn't long before we left the city proper for the large rectangular building known as "Fairy Hills". According to Erza it was the dorm where some female members of Fairy Tail lived such as Levy and Bisca.

Just as we reached the double doors it opened to reveal she short blue haired bookworm Levy. "Hey Erza."

"Hey Levy." Erza said adjusting the hold on her bags of cloths. "What are you up to?"

"I was going to go to the guild for a job." The bookworm answered then she spotted me as Erza shifted sideways a bit. Her eyes went wide with shock. "WAR MAIDEN?!" Levy shouted loud enough that she could have woken the dead.

"Yeah." I groaned shaking my head. "Went cloths shopping with Erza and we're depositing our loot before training."

Levy looked between the two of us for a few moments. "Well good luck with your training." She said before leaving.

I shrugged as Erza looked at me. We entered into an open lobby that seemed to stretch on for one side of the building. Going up stairs Erza stopped in font of a door at one end of the hall opening the door. The room was massive about the size of the living room in my house or a little bigger, though this wasn't the only room she had. I put my four bags onto the floor by the door. The majority of the cloths in those bags were things like shirts, pants, skirts, and a few undergarments. One bag held the few lingerie that Erza had picked for me and new swimsuits.

"I've got plenty of space for you." Erza said having put her bags onto the huge king sized bed. Her bed had the roof structure with it and curtains too that were wrapped around the pillars. The top blanket appeared to be thick and was dark blue in color. "I've taken this whole side of the building on this floor. It gives me room for the extra armor and weapons that don't fit into my pocket dimensions, but my rent is 500,000 a month."

"It will take some time to pack and move my stuff to here from the house in Oak Town." I commented snapping my fingers. At my command a portal materialized in the pathway to the next room after the main one Erza had for her bed, bathroom, kitchen, fridge, and closet. "Walk through that portal and it will take you to a clearing in the Void. I'll train you there for a bit." The redhead nodded walking through the slowly swirling oval of purple energy that was pitch black at the center. I followed right after making the portal close behind me and vanish.

"This is incredible." Erza commented looking to the violet sky lit by two different son-like orbs. Apart form those two sons the sky was dotted with countless specks of light, very much like the sky at night in Earthland. The clearing was on the edge of a forest with red trees on one side while the other was the base of a mountain. This was one of the locations I came to when I needed to release stress by breaking things, or for training. The base of the mountain had a number of craters with three different areas that had been excavated with my magic. Those incidents had more made those spots a quarry each. "I had no idea the Void would have nature or beauty like this."

I snorted bringing her attention to me. "What did you think it would be like? A dimension with nothing except empty space?"

"Something like that..." Was the quiet reply as she hung her head.

I clapped my hands together generating a loud pop. This got her to stand at attention. "For my training you will be using only your void demon powers while sparring me, is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Erza saluted sporting a slight blush on her face. It was fun to see her do this instead of the other way around. And she seemed to like it if that blush is anything to go by. She Ex-quipped into a pair of black sports shorts with a matching black sports bra. I also switched clothing into my own pair of black colored sports shorts and sports bra. Then void energy wrapped around Erza's form before she charged and I dashed at her.

Hours later Erza and I had some minor bruises on our arms and legs. The area around us sported a number of new scars from stray attacks I had dodged. My girlfriend stood breathing hard with sweat coating her form. She was far more winded than I would have thought making me realize this training was really needed. I myself wasn't all that winded though I sported my own layer of sweat from our sparring.

"That's enough for today." I said getting Erza to relax from her fighting stance. "We've been at it for six hours straight."

Erza sighed with relief. "I didn't think this would be so tiring."

I shrugged changing into a blue tank top and gray pants with the short heels again. "You've used that magic so few times that it will take a lot out of you, until you get used to it."

"What time is it?" She asked looking to the sky that had darkened with the larger of the two sons having already set for this planetoid, more or less a miniature or small planet like Pluto. Due from the larger son already having set it was getting close to dark.

"About seven or so." I answered conjuring up another portal. "This one will put us right in Magnolia. Then we'll go to the guild."

"Guild?" Erza repeated raising an eyebrow.

"I was planning on joining Fairy Tail after Jose had been dealt with, but I've changed my mind." I supplied making her smile brightly. Erza changed into a black long sleeve shirt and her usual blue skirt and boots before entering the portal. I went through next where the portal placed us towards the center of Magnolia. The walk from there to the guild hall allowed the two of us to cool off thanks to the breeze going through the city.

"Welcome back Erza!" Mirajane called as she placed down a tray of food in front of Natsu. "Are you two hungry?"

"Yeah." I answered grabbing Erza's right hand in my left as we headed for the bar. We reached it without incident to find Makarov sitting at one end of the bar closest to us. "Got a question for you old man."

Makarov peered over the edge of his mug. "Hmm?"

"Will you accept me as a member of your guild?" I asked watching him. This silenced all conversation in the guild hall.

The old man put his mug down onto the bar then looked to me. "Of course Aether." He said with a beaming smile. "It doesn't matter that you aren't human. Your heart is in the right place; wanting to protect those close to you. Even when an opponent is a Wizard Saint who has lost his way."

"Where do you want the mark Aether?" Mira asked making me turn to her. The silver haired woman held a stamp in one hand with a bright smile on her face.

I held my left arm out to her and pointed at my forearm. "Here, and make it blue." I answered.

She pressed the stamp where I requested and the Fairy Tail mark appeared where the Phantom Lord one had been before I removed it. "Welcome to the guild." Mira said cheerfully.

"Welcome to the guild!" The collected members roared as one which brought a smile to my lips.

"Hooray for another sexy red head!" Makarov cheered finishing the mug he had been drinking from in one go. He got a little too into it and fell over the side of the bar to the floor with a thud.

"Dirty old man." I grumbled shaking my head. Something crashed into it from the side without warning. After cracking my neck from the impact I looked down to see it was an empty mug. Turning to the collected guild members Natsu and Gray froze as my eyes found them. Natsu in particular had one arm stretched out as if he threw the mug. I grinned getting off the stool. "You're toast."

Both mages began shaking as they held onto each other for dear life. "Oh shit!" They hollered as I rushed forwards bonking them on the head. A yell alerted me to someone on my left so I ducked. A barrel of an arm went through the air I had been standing. I leg swept Elfman making the large man fall backwards onto someone else. Whoever that was screamed then a table flipped and all hell broke loose. It was another of the guild's brawls that I remembered from the series, though quite different when you partake in it. I weaved out of attacks and flying objects too well for them and scored a victory pretty quick by sheer brute force.

"That was overkill..." Lucy commented with worried eyes having stayed out of the brawl somehow.

I looked the pile of unconscious guild members next to me that had Gray and Natsu at the bottom. Elfman was sprawled out on the top with Cana off to the side. Shrugging I replied. "Probably." With that I went back to my seat next to Erza finding a plate with some sort of stir fry.

"First meal's on the house Aether." Mira commented and I wasted no time digging in.

"Thanks Mria." I said in between a bite of food while the barmaid smiled watching.

"Its no problem." Mira said grabbing a mug from next to where Makarov had been sitting to clean. "What did you two do after cloths shopping?"

"Training." Erza replied for me.

"Training?" Mira repeated tilting her head in confusion.

"Aether's a slave driver." Erza groaned though out of the corner of my eye I saw a smile. "She's training me to use my Void Demon powers."

"Where did you go for that?"

"The Void." I supplied. "Where else could we go for that? Void Demon magic is more or less Voidslayer magic, which is the most destructive form of Slayer magic there is."

"Why is that?" Mira asked placing down the mug she had cleaned. "I thought Dragonslayer was pretty destructive."

"It is." I answered. "However Voidslayer is a bit different." I added holding up a finger. "As you may or may not know Void magic is free form and capable of taking on just about any shape, as well as eating away at most things. Voidslayer is a step further: it cuts through everything but itself, and even then if there is a great enough difference between the users that happens."

"Seriously?!" Lucy stammered.

"That's one reason why Gajeel doesn't fight Aether anymore." Raz answered before I could. "Besides Voidslayer is capable of eating away magic by breaking it down."

"Where have you been?" I asked turning to my lizardlisk who sat down at the end of the bar. His head almost touched the underside of the second floor balcony.

"Hunting for food." Raz replied.

"Aren't you a little large to be inside the guild?" A voice spoke before the blue winged cat Happy came into view. Happy flew over and landed on the bar next to Erza with a raw fish in hand.

"Maybe." Raz shrugged as he sat up basically having his two front legs mimic arms. "You got a problem with me being in the guild hall old man?"

"Considering some of the trophies I've brought back to the guild hall, you're fine." Erza spoke as I finished off my plate.

"I agree with Erza's statement." Makarov said marking the decision as he climbed back up to the bar top. "Feel free to enter the guild hall when you want, and Mira can also give you a guild mark if you want." Raz nodded yes.

In a blur Mira once again held the Fairy Tail emblem stamp in her hand. "I'm not sure how well this will work with your scales, but where would you like the emblem?"

Raz straightened out so he was more or less parallel with the ground. He then used one clawed toe to point at his fright right shoulder. "Make the emblem green and place it here."

"Welcome to the guild as well." Mira said as groans began to sound from the pile of beaten mages in the center of the room.

"Thanks." Raz commented. "Think you could get me a platter of meat?"

"Sure thing." Mira replied with a smile going towards the kitchen.

Erza leaned in close enough that I could fee her breath on my ear. "I have a gift I went to give you later. But do you want to join me in the guild shower?"

"I'm game." I whispered back. Erza got up from the stool and I quickly followed her. She went through a door under the stairs on the right side of the guild hall that led to a hallway. At the far side was a single door that led to some stairs with another door at the bottom. Erza opened that door and let me enter first. The room was something akin to a locker room with small lockers on the walls to put clothing into. One thing I did notice though was that the lockers didn't have a door on them, making them like large cubbyholes.

"In case you aren't aware this room is for changing out of clothing and putting them into baskets you see on the floor." Erza explained closing the door then locking it with an audible click. "Each person uses one basket for their cloths." She added starting to strip in front of me. I watched as she removed cloths normally. Naked she was just as mesmerizing as I suspected she would. At this point our bruises were non-existent or barely visible.

I also stripped normally instead of using magic to dismiss my clothing. Within a minute I was naked as well, and I could tell Erza was looking me over with slightly glazed eyes. "Well lets get in there." I gestured to the sliding door across from me. Erza went through it first then I followed up sliding it shut. I had plans of my own for her so I placed a hand on the sliding door and channeled some magic. Using that I created a Void Barrier that covered the walls of the room, making sure no one can interrupt us. I turned back around to see that this was indeed a shower room.

It was huge and rectangular in shape. There were several square pillars that contained shower heads towards the ceiling while the walls around the room also had them. The back wall appeared to have stalls to separate shower heads. A shower head turning on alerted me to Erza whom stood somewhere near the middle of the room. It was then I noticed some indents in the pillar near the temperature control for the water. Those held what looked like a bar of soap and a small battle of shampoo. I walked up to the shower head located to the left of the one Erza turned on as said redhead stood under the water.

I did the same with mine feeling my body start to relax under the stream of hot water. After a few minutes I put my head under the water to soak it. Without warning fingers started scrubbing my head. I knew it was Erza and leaned back into her touch. Her roaming fingers massaged my scalp lovingly for some time.

"Do you use some special shampoo to have your hair this silky?" Erza asked making me open my eyes to the tan white tile of the shower room.

"Not really." I answered. "I use shampoo that is naturally scented is all."

I felt something on my head and heard Erza take a deep breath. "Smells like apple and cinnamon." I felt her breath leave my head only to be turned around. Erza pinned me to the wall using one hand to hold both of mine above my head. A leg wedged itself between mine, rubbing against my nether regions. A moan escaped my lips before Erza kissed me passionately. I returned the favor before she pushed her tong past my lips. I let out another moan as I tried to wrestle her tong with mine. We went at it for a few minutes before separating for air.

"Erza..." I paused panting with my cheeks red as my hair. Erza's leg that was settled between mine shifted position making shivers run down my spine. "Before we go any further I need to show you something." Erza raised an eyebrow but still held my hands above my head. I inhaled deeply then slowly released the breath. As I did that a ripple of energy washed over my form to reveal what I wanted her to see.

Her eyes went wide somehow imitating those of a cat. "What's this?" She spoke without any hint of disgust, only curiosity.

"What I look like when I'm not in human form more or less." I replied but her gaze told me she knew there was more to it than that. "I can explain latter."

"Good." Erza smiled looking down my body slowly then back up to my eyes. "So this form has wolf ears the color of your hair, four arms containing hands with four fingers each, a tail, legs that are digitigrade ending in four claws, pointed elf ears, and gray skin color?" I nodded placing my second pair of hands on her waist while wrapping my tail several times around the lower part of her rib cage.

"Yes." I supplied with a nod. "Do you have a preference as to what form I have in here?"

She shook her head. "I do not, so choose whatever makes you comfortable."

"What was the gift you wanted to give me?" I asked getting back on track with my plan to devour the redhead.

Erza placed her forehead on mine while her free hand traced my jaw then began to wander lower. The light touch she used was driving me nuts. I felt as if I was on fire and could certainly feel my core burning. "I want to give you the pleasure of your first time." She answered as her roaming hand stopped on my left breast.

I looked into her eyes to see lust and love in them. "Then give it to me." I said moving my hips a little to rub her leg against my pussy. I moaned lightly at the motion as her lips found mine again. Our kiss quickly became heated as I started loosing myself to lust. Her hand squeezed my breast making me moan once again separating our lips. She kissed my jaw as her hand massaged that breast. Slowly she traced kisses down my neck towards my chest. Her mouth eventually found the nipple of the breast she didn't have in a hand and licked it. I arched my back as Erza let go of my hands. I let all four arms hang to my sides, and unwound my tail from her form.

Pleasure burned through my system from her actions. Slow moans escaped my mouth as Erza's tong flicked and twirled around the nipple in her mouth. For some time she played with it then took her mouth off of it. I wined as she stopped and pulled back her leg from between mine. Erza flashed me a smirk before taking in the opposite nipple into her mouth and using a hand to massage the flesh of the free one.

"Oh...god." I breathed as she sucked on the nipple in her mouth. I moaned louder this time as she pinched the other one. After some time she released the nipple from her mouth and brought a hand to that breast.

"Does it feel good?" Erza asked huskily as her hands massaged both of my breasts.

"Yes." I replied with a moan as both hands squeezed at the same time. "Don't stop." I pleaded spreading my legs apart.

"As you wish." Erza smiled then planted kisses down my toned stomach. I could feel my snatch burning even more as she went slowly. She had to know it was driving me crazy! Finally I felt her breath down there before feeling fingers give it a gentle rub. As she did that I began moving my hips forwards to increase the pressure.

I moaned loudly as the pleasure skyrocketed. I looked down to see her remove the hand she had been using to rub my me. I almost whined again but something wet and warm stopped me from doing so. I moaned as Erza's tong licked my pussy. All I could feel was the pleasure she was giving me. My knees nearly buckled when I felt her tong go inside. I barely registered her hands holding me up. It wasn't long before the only thing coming out of my mouth was moans and pants for air. As Erza ate me out I put the upper hands on my breasts to massage them then the lower pair of hands onto her head. I applied pressure in both areas and began to feel something growing within me as my panting became quicker.

Erza kept exploring with her tong hitting sensitive places over and over. Her movements quicker and harder than earlier. Whatever I felt building up within me was located somewhere near Erza's face. The muscles there began tightening up as the build up in me got to new heights.

"Don't stop, don't stop." I chanted barely getting the words together. Without warning everything in me tightened up and released. At that moment I threw my head back screaming. At the same time I squeezed my breasts tightly going before going limp. My eye sight was fuzzy for a little bit but that cleared up quickly when I heard coughing.

"Damn." Erza groaned then coughed some more. The scent of sex permeated the area around us.

"What?" I panted regaining my breath as I looked down to her scarlet head. I could see her face glistening with some sort of clear looking fluid. I let go of her head with my lower hands and used them to help hold me up with the wall.

"I didn't expect you to be a gusher like me." Erza replied before her tong came into contact with my pussy again. I shivered and let out a moan as she cleaned me of juices before pulling back. Her hands shifted position as the redhead stood up keeping me pining me to the wall again with her hands on my waist. "How was that for your first orgasm?"

I smiled then gave Erza a quick kiss tasting myself on her lips before pulling back. The taste of my juices was tantalizing and sweet, kind of like really good honey. "Indescribable." I replied putting my upper hands onto her shoulders. "However that wasn't my first time..." I whispered sadly as I maneuvered my tail to rub part of it on her pussy gently.

She inhaled sharply then exhaled at the contact as her face briefly looked confused. That was quickly replaced with a smile. "Do you want the full experience?" She asked stepping back from me a little bit and away from my tail. Leaning to the side Erza put her face in the stream of water from the shower head before getting out of it. Wiping her face with a hand magic gathered near her crotch. Several moments later void colored ice materialized looking an awful lot like an erect penis. The artificial limb had sprouted from the scarlet patch of hair above her pussy. It was about six or seven inches in length.

With my lower right hand I touched the conjured toy to find that it was warm to the touch rather than cold like ice. "I see you've discovered how to create things with void ice." I commented.

Erza nodded. "I had help discovering that, plus I learned to manipulate the temperature." To emphasize her point the conjured penis became cold in my grasp like ice then slowly went back to room temperature. "Eeek!" Erza squealed as I hugged her to my body suddenly, the false penis resting above my opening.

"Stick it in." I ordered loosening my grasp to let her move. Erza complied grabbing my hips and picking me up a bit. With a hand I guided the false penis to my dripping entrance. Slowly Erza pushed forwards making my breath hitch. I relaxed slowly as I felt my insides stretch to accommodate the intrusion. I grimaced a little at the uncomfortable feeling.

Erza stopped moving instantly. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." I replied. "Just feels...tight." With that she resumed movement until I could feel the ice dildo, for lack of a better term, was completely inside me. I leaned down to kiss her as she gave me time to adjust. After breaking apart for air I nodded to her. One pair of hands went to her shoulders while the other I placed on her ribs below her arms.

She hefted me up slightly adjusting her hold on me, her hands just before my ass. Once that was done she began moving slowly pulling back then sliding in. At that movement pleasure burned through me once again, but this time more intense. After a short bit she picked up the pace moving a bit faster.

"Fuck...me." I groaned holding onto Erza tight with all four hands. This was beyond what she had done with her tong and finger. I let out a slow moan with her current pace, but I wanted more. "Faster!" At my command Erza thrust into me faster. "Yes!" I screamed before my breath quickened. Loud moans echoed from me between panting.

As she continued to pound me with intent my fingers dug into her flesh and I wrapped my legs around her waist. My tail twitched with another build up forming inside me. Without warning Erza thrust faster and harder, enough to have my back hit the wall behind me repeatedly. It wasn't long before I reached another climax.

"ERZA!" I boomed feeling my insides tighten around the ice dildo attempting to crush it. At that moment the fluids of my orgasm splashed onto the both of us with me going limp again. For some time I didn't move feeling like I was on cloud nine. Once the high started to fade away I brought my head back from where it had fallen over one of Erza's shoulders. I uncoiled my legs from her waist putting my feet onto the tile floor. I tried putting weight on them but that didn't work, so Erza was forced to hold most of my weight.

"I take it you liked that." Erza said planting a chaste kiss on my lips.

I snorted. "Why wouldn't I?" She smiled as I flexed my legs. They responded like I wanted to and Erza slowly let me take my own weight. I then let go of her finding my fingertips having blood on them. Looking at them I commented. "Didn't mean to grip that hard."

"I don't mind a little pain with my sex." Erza said making me breath a sigh of relief. "Though I might have to explain why there is a mark on my legs from your tail." I raised an eyebrow at that. She turned around slowly letting me see her entire backside. I took the opportunity to scan her form from top to bottom. Once my eyes got to her legs I saw what she meant. Along one leg was a red mark that nearly looked like it had come from a whip.

"That wound will heal in no time." I said and then I had an idea. Erza said she'd give me pleasure, but it didn't quite sit right with me to be the only one to feel good. "My turn." I said making her confused. Without saying more I coiled my tail around Erza and pulled her to me. At the moment she reached me I spun to pin her to the wall.

"Aether?" Erza asked not sure what was going on. Ignoring her question I unwound the tail then kissed her. She easily went with it as my lower pair of hands went to her breasts and my upper ones grasped her head. The kiss was hot and full of passion for a time then I trailed my tong over her lips. They quickly parted so I could explore her cavern with Erza doing the same to me. As we kissed I kneaded the two wonderful mounds of flesh in my lower hands. She moaned at the action then we separated, a trail of saliva between our mouths.

Pinching a nipple made Erza moan and arch her back a bit. I kissed around her mouth before finding her tong and sucking on it. I did that for a bit then released it to move down to my next target. I left a trail of saliva from her neck to her left breast where I put the nipple into my mouth. Teasing the hardened nub rewarded me with more moans and pants. At the same time my top left hand kneaded the other breast while my lower set of hands went to Erza's snatch and my own.

My lover was quite drenched down there and so was I. With my second pair of hands I rubbed our pussies while at the same time I kneaded one breast. Erza arced her back when my lower left hand applied pressure to her nether region making the woman throw her head back a bit. I released the nub I had been playing with to switch to the other one. I nipped the nipple a bit with my teeth earning a moan as my upper right hand kneaded the breast I had been tasting. She let out a steady series of moans then I slipped a finger into her core.

"AH!" Erza moaned loudly making my ears ring a little bit at the volume. Ignoring that I kept up for another minute then released the hardened nub. She pouted with a slight whine as I stopped fingering her to re-position myself. I trailed kisses down her chest and stomach enjoying the feel of the toned muscles on my lips. With my second set of arms I held up Erza by her thighs. I paused looking at her glistening core and took a deep breath.

I savored the smell of Erza, a scent of steel and strawberries that fit her exactly. I took one more breath then got in close and trailed my tong across her pussy. Another loud moan escaped her lips then her hands found my head and pulled me closer to her, avoiding my animal. I continued licking gently feeling her fingers tangle themselves in my hair. She pushed on my head again while her hands formed an iron grip. It was obvious she wanted more so I slipped my tong into her to eat her out. The effect was to my liking as she moaned more loudly and her breath quickened.

"Aether..." Erza moaned as her inside began to tighten up around my tong. "I'm...close." She added then her insides vice gripped my tong. She screamed as an orgasm rocked her releasing the flood gates. I eagerly lapped up as much of her cum as I could, getting nearly all of it. There was some that spilled over and down my chest and onto the floor, as well as her thighs.

Using my fingers I cleaned off the juices on my face then sucked them clean. I moaned at the taste making sure Erza was watching. "You taste amazing." I said huskily while Erza's eyes were glazed over.

"That felt good." Erza said between pants looking quite pleased, though I wasn't done with her yet. I let Erza down so she could stand somewhat and stood up myself to be even with her. I kissed her and she returned the action quickly. The kiss was sloppy and lust driven but I didn't care. Within a minute I shoved my tong into her mouth and began another battle of dominance. We were about even until I slipped the tip of my tail into Erza's core making her moan. Her concentration was broken letting me devour her mouth with interest.

I stopped with a need for breath, panting to get some air as Erza did the same. A moan slowly came from her mouth with me beginning to move my tail a bit inside of her. "Would you like to fucked by my tail or void ice?" I asked keeping the movement slow so she could answer.

Erza put her hands onto my chest and squeezed them, kneading my breasts. I moaned before Erza captured my mouth with hers again. As she kneaded my breasts she wrestled my tong and sucked on it. For a minute or so she sucked it making me thrust my tail into her further, forcing the half demon from me with a loud moan. We caught our breath then she placed her hands onto my cheeks gently. "I want both." She answered.

"Greedy girl." I replied with a smile then pushed more of my tail into her. When there was about seven or so inches of inside her I began movement. It was slow taking a bit more effort than I had expected. After all I was used to impaling my tail through humans or fellow void demons to kill them. Her hands went to the wall to brace herself before she began to move with my tail.

After a few minutes Erza's moans started getting louder. "Faster! Harder!" I obliged her keeping the lower pair of hands on her waist while the upper pair went to her breasts. Those hands kneaded the heavenly globes at the same time I sped up the thrusting of my tail, and of course the force with it. The half demon sped up her movements to match my tail once again. It wasn't long after that her insides clamped around my tail tightly. "AETHER!" She wailed splashing her juices over the floor, my tail, and our legs.

I grinned as she went limp making me stop kneading her chest to catch her. Slowly I withdrew my tail then brought it up. The part that had been inside Erza was naturally glistening in the light from her juices. "That was more difficult than I thought it would be." I commented.

"Oh?" She rasped with half lidded eyes. Then she reached out and grabbed my tail before moving it to me. "I need a minute to recover."

I nodded before cleaning off the tip of my tail with my tong. It held a texture the same as the skin on the rest of me, more or less like licking something off of a finger. She caught her breath watching me. Once I had finished I let my tail down to rest it on the floor. "Ready?"

Erza nodded and spread her legs again. I conjured a penis of void ice that matched the one Erza had used with me. Shifting once again so that I had a pair of hands on her thighs I slipped the ice dildo into her. It went in without any issues since she was already soaked from earlier activities. I stopped when the ice dildo was completely in her for a few moments then began moving. Immediately her legs went around my waist forcing me to hold her with one pair of hands while the other stayed on both sides of her ribs. My pace was slow earning pants from the redhead in my arms then I sped up.

The smacking of our bodies echoed in the shower room coupled with moans from Erza. She panted heavily moaning in between breaths with her hands gripping my shoulders tightly. At the same time her legs tightened around my waist pulling us as close as possible. For some time I kept a fast pace feeling Erza's grip get tighter.

"I'm..." She whispered then her body convulsed. Erza's fingers dug into my shoulders drawing blood at the same time her back arched. Liquid splashed onto our bodies as a fierce moan like yell escaped her lips. She leaned forwards then fell to me with a dreamy sigh.

"I...think we've done enough." I panted dismissing the ice dildo and catching my breath.

"Yes." Erza whispered into my ear. "Let's...get...clean." She added trying to catch her breath as well.

With that the two of us separated and cleaned off a bit slowly. Fifteen minutes later I exited the changing room with Erza on my back. Halfway through changing she had fallen to the floor with her legs giving out. Due to the sex earlier she had lost the ability to walk or stand for a length of time, so I had to help her. The guild hall was pretty much deserted save for Mira who was still at the bar.

At the sound of the door closing Mira turned her attention to me. "Did you two have fun down there?" She asked innocently, though I could tell she knew what we had been up form the words she used.

Erza snuggled her head further into my neck and shoulder with a content sigh. "We did." I replied with a smile and some red on my cheeks. "How long were we down there?"

Mira put a finger on her chin humming. "Two hours I think."

"Incredible..." Erza mumbled hugging her arms a bit tighter around me.

I couldn't help but agree on that notion. "See you tomorrow Mira." I said then walked out of the guild hall to Fairy Hills. It was quiet and the light of the moon illuminated the path to Erza's residence. Once at the door she unlocked it with a key she had somewhere on her person. A short walk later had me in front of her door.

"I think I can stand Aether." Erza said and I gently put her down. "However I did enjoy riding on your back." She added smiling brightly. She then turned and opened the door allowing me to enter first. After entering I heard the door lock then she passed me going for the bed. Her shopping bags were still on the bed so she gathered them and placed them in front of her dresser. In a flash of light Erza's clothing changed to her Heart Kruez pajamas that were a light purple in color with the designer symbol all over it.

I yawned then dismissed my clothing making Erza raise an eyebrow. "I sleep naked." I supplied to her unspoken question.

Erza chuckled shaking her head with a small grin. Then she got onto her bed and scooted towards the middle laying down. Once there Erza patted the blankets next to her. "Come here." she spoke adding a sultry tone that sent a shiver up my spine. With a thought I shifted shape to my "true form" as it were. Then I quickly went over to the bed and got in under the covers with her. "You owe me an explanation." She said resting her head on my left shoulder.

I hugged her with both left arms taking in a deep breath then releasing it. "This form I currently have is one Void Demons acquire when they get powerful and skilled enough. It is called "Secondary form" and is as I mentioned earlier what a Void Demon looks like when not in human form. Overall the appearance of a Secondary Form is different between each Void Demon, though there can be a lot of similarities."

"I see." Erza commented. "Can half demons acquire Secondary Form too?"

"I don't know." I replied. That was something to look up at the royal library of Ethos, a human city in the Void directly linked to Crocus with a giant Void Gate.

"Have you had sex before tonight with someone?" Erza asked making me glance at her to see a curious expression.

I shifted my gaze to the ceiling with a sigh. "Yes, and not by choice."

A slight jolt went through the redhead in my arms. "You were..."

"Raped." I finished for her. I turned to see surprise evident.

Erza's eyes remained wide as a word whispered from her mouth. "When?"

I kissed her on the forehead then brought my gaze away from her to the ceiling once more. "I've been a Magic Council Executioner for a long time, primarily going on missions for them to eliminate dark guilds by myself or Void's Saw groups. I can take out large numbers of either, but that doesn't mean I can't be captured." I paused closing my eyes and bringing a right hand to the back of my head. "I've been captured a handful of times by dark guilds before killing my way out. Void's Saw has only captured me twice and one of those times was two years ago." Again I paused seeing the ruined city that had once been a town with people before they were all killed by Void's Saw. It had been a in flat plains of green grass and small rivers. "Void's Saw lured me into a trap that I didn't see until it had been sprung. After I had been incapacitated they put me in a dungeon and bound me in chains. It was there that a Void Demon as powerful as myself raped me...Even now the word leaves a bitter taste in my mouth."

A hand turned my head gently as I opened my eyes. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to Aether." Erza's gaze held concern in them and reassurance. With my second right hand I found her left hand and intertwined our fingers.

"I know." I whispered squeezing her hand a little. "But I want to." She nodded as I removed the hand from the back of my head to pull the covers more over us. "After a few days I managed to break free of the dungeon and decimated their operation killing every last one of them. The former town of living people was erased in a fight between me and the bastard of a demon who raped me. In the end I killed him and returned to Era to give my report on what happened."

"Who was the demon that raped you?"

I took in a breath letting it out slowly. "Bajunt Turkov." I answered. "I was ordered to have a physical due to being a rape victim. After that the doctor told me I was pregnant she asked what I wanted to do." Once again my mind went down memory lane, to the white stone walls of Era in the Void Demon medical bay. At the time I had been the only one there along with the woman who had done the physical and medical inspection. She had been a fairly average looking with dark blue scrubs and a white lab coat over them.

"What did you decide?" Erza asked bringing me back to the present.

"I choose to go through with the pregnancy." I said smiling. "It was an interesting experience to say the least. Only a few were aware that I was pregnant and they helped me form letting Phantom Lord know about it or Sorcerer Magazine. The Magic Council also helped me in that regard and five months after knowing I was pregnant I gave birth to my daughters."

"You're pregnancy was five months?" Erza said sounding puzzled.

I shrugged. "Different biology." Comfortable silence filled the air before I broke it. "The three of them were born at Era and I stayed there for a week. During that time I asked the Magic Council to find a family that could raise my daughters for me." I frowned feeling a pang of regret at giving my daughters to someone else to raise.

"Why did you give them away?"

I draped an arm over my eyes fighting the liquid that was building up in them. "I kill humans and Void Demons alike for a living. Some of them are younger than I am...Do you really think a person like that can raise children?" My control faltered as tears silently fell from my closed eyes with my voice echoing pain. A pain at the fact I couldn't see the girls I gave birth to everyday and watch them grow.

Erza's hand untangled from mine moving the arm over my eyes away. I felt her lips on mine as fingers cleared the tears from my face. I opened my eyes as her lips left mine, a hand resting on the side of my face. "Of course you can, Aether." She said as her eyes held a confidant light. The thumb of her left hand gently stroked up and down. "If you have problems Fairy Tail will help you through them."

A heavy sigh left my lips as I basked in that loving light in her eyes. "Thanks...for reminding me." I said feeling sleep claim me as my eyes closed.

OoOoOooOoOoOo

 _ _Darkness completely surrounded me then slowly gave way to landscape. Silver light revealed a rocky expanse around that stretched out for miles. In the distance was a slopped down portion of grasslands, though it was blood red. Fog hung about in the lower areas of the place I stood on. The skies above were clear with a tint of purple while the full moon shined with divine brilliance. I looked over myself to see that I was naked and in human form.__

 _ _"Where am I?" I spoke to myself quietly puzzled by what I saw. I know I had fallen asleep so this had to be a dream...But why did I feel warm night air on my skin and see fog swirl around in lazy circles?__

 _ _"Aether..." A voice echoed from somewhere, though with this kind of mountain like terrain it was impossible to tell from where. "They...are...in...danger." The voice added as if the wind had spoken those words.__

 _ _"Who is in danger?" I asked turning to look around me trying to locate the voice. I saw no one but me. "And how do you know my name?" It was then I felt the presence of...something near me. From that I could tell I was being watched by whatever I felt. The thick aura of fog in the lower parts bothered me greatly. I couldn't see into those blanketed areas nor could I sense anything there. I walked slowly feeling a slight jolt at the cold rocks under my bare feet. I traveled down a slope that held a mixture of round rocks stuck in it and short grass or moss, I couldn't tell.__

 _ _"I've known you since birth." The voice replied sounding closer. I stopped in front of the line between fog and rocky ground. The fog shifted and rippled slightly and a form emerged from it. The thing had a vaguely wolf like shape with no real defining features, as if it was an outline or blank mold. The only thing that stood out from the wolf was brilliant blood red eyes that were slitted, very much like my own silver ones. The fog wolf was far larger than me with its head pointed down to watch me. Its head shifted to the fog near it.__

 _ _The fog shifted and split slowly revealing three forms hanging from something. What I saw first was trees of bone and from three nearest me the hanging outlines cleared. My blood ran cold as I stared at three hanging bodies of children appearing no older than five. Each child had their hands bound together with rope and that was tied to a branch of bone. Their pants and shirts were covered in dirt and stained with spots of bright blue blood, barely hiding some form of stab wound.__

 _ _I reached out with a shaking hands towards them. "Rias, Zara, Ivy..." I spoke the names of my daughters. They looked mostly like me though all of them had a mixture of blue and red in their hair. The azure blue in their hair came from their father Bajunt while the red was from me. Rais, Zara, and Ivy looked a lot alike making it easy to confuse them for each other. However I had no difficulty telling them apart. I guess that's a mother's intuition. Their forms remained motionless but the one of the far left shifted slightly. "Rias." I said louder than last time.__

 _ _The girl on the far left grimaced and opened an eye to me. "Mother..." She whispered though I still heard her perfectly. "Save me..." She added as tears formed in her open eye.__

 _ _I took one step before a blade burst through her form, right through the heart. She coughed once spilling blue blood onto the ground in at her feet. Dark laughter boomed as the blade retracted from Rias's corpse. Then a familiar figure faded into view with a sadistic gleam in his eyes.__

 _ _I narrowed my eyes at the blue haired man. "Jellal." I hissed as he cut the rope holding Rias up. Her body landed with a dull thud in the ground, barely covered by the fog on the ground.__

 _ _He pointed a serrated blade at me with one hand. "You've forgotten the price."__

 _ _"What price?" I growled watching him intently. He had certainly gained handsome looks and wore cloths that did little to hide it. On his chest was a form fitting shirt with no sleeves. A pair of semi loose pants covered his legs held in place by a leather belt and boots finished his outfit.__

 _ _He laughed again keeping his eyes on me. It was a laugh similar to The Commandant's causing a chill to run down my spine. "The price of escaping me Aether." I blinked to see that serrated blade cut through Ivy who was in the middle of the line up. Blood sprayed from the severed halves of her body, somehow never landing on Jellal's form. Grinding my teeth I charged forwards at him before he could use that blade to kill Zara, whom posses more blue in her hair than her sisters.__

 _ _Within seconds I slammed into his form sending us both down the hill. The serrated blade clanged to the ground somewhere as we rolled. Ignoring the pain of rolling over rocks I grabbed his neck and threw him hard. He sailed through the air before hitting the ground harshly generating a crater. Getting to my feet I jumped aiming to crush Jellal underfoot. In a flash the Blackwing Armor covered my form as I came down. Without warning Jellal vanished just before I landed deepening the crater, sending up a geyser of earth chunks and dust into the air.__

 _ _With a wave of my hand the geyser of dust cleared to show Jellal hovering in the air with a glow of gold around his body. It was almost the same magic I had felt from him when we fought before I escaped the Tower with Erza. I summoned the Blackwing Blade into my left hand then froze. My eyes widened at the ethereal figure behind him. That figure reeked of sinister magic and didn't really look human. A Lion head with curved horns and five eyes hovered over Jellal's head. Rows of razor sharp teeth gleamed in the moonlight and those five eyes glowed with a crimson hunger. Further down two large root looking arms extended with glowing red claws. Though the torso was somewhat blocked by Jellal's figure it was thick, probably with a lot of muscle.__

 _ _What the hell is that thing? It looked like no demon I'd ever seen or read about in books. I was forced to step to the side as that serrated blade came whistling for me. The weapon barely nicked the side of my waist creating a thin line. I winced glancing behind me to see the weapon slam into the ground with thunderous force making a cracked crater. Sensing something coming for me I turned my attention back to Jellal. It was too late to do anything as another identical serrated sword plunged into my chest. I opened my mouth to let out a spill of blood that actually got onto Jellal's face.__

 _ _"This is the price for leaving me." He spoke coldly moving aside. In the field behind him was a collection of corpses drenched in blood. Those belonged to Fairy Tail and some of the Magic Council.__

 _ _I tried to speak only to hack up more blood that landed on the ground staining it bright blue. I felt the blade pull back from my body before I fell over to the side. Staring at the slaughter at the hands of a possessed friend my eyes grew heavy. I wanted to get back up and fight him but my eyes refused to cooperate, closing of their own accord.__

OooOoOoOoOoOoO

My eyes jolted open to be greeted with the sight of the ceiling of Erza's room. At that moment I sat up quickly feeling Erza slide out of my arms sound asleep. Looking to her peaceful face I felt a little better. Shaking my head I got out of the bed and entered her bathroom. Closing the door quietly I turned on the shower and switched back to human form. While waiting for the water to warm up I scanned her bathroom. It was similar to the one in my house though the bathtub also had a shower head. Feeling a slight heat in the air I entered the shower.

I was forced to use her soap and shampoo, though I'm sure Erza wouldn't mind at all. The bar of soap was lavender "flavored" like the ones I used at home, while the bottle of shampoo was strawberry scented. Ten minutes later I dried off and exited the bathroom. Somehow Erza was still out cold and I shook my head leaving quietly. Fairy Hills was almost eerily quiet making me sense around for something hidden. There were no unknown magic signatures I detected so I relaxed a little.

I made my way to the first floor then right to the kitchen. It was large, kind of like those seen on TV cooking shows. I went to one of the fridges and opened it up seeing what was inside. This one was full of various bottles of alcohol, no doubt belonging to Cana. I grabbed one of the rum bottles in the door the closed it. Nearby was a basket of limes so I took one of them placing it next to the rum bottle. Then I spent a few minutes looking through the cabinets for a large drink container. I found one of glass and returned to the lime and alcohol, next to find was a rimer.

Another minute or so and I found one that was made of glass. Summoning a dagger I cut the lime in half and licked the juice from it. With that done I poured the rum into the tall water cup made from glass then used the rimer to get the lime juice into the drink. Once that was done I dismissed the blade and put a finger into the rum drink to stir it. After about thirty seconds or so I removed my finger and took a sip. The rum burned smoothly down my throat with a crisp lime taste that negated the bitterness of the alcohol.

"Seems I'm not the only one who couldn't sleep." I commented looking to the door I had come in from. I heard a sigh then Ultear entered wearing a loose Yukata that showed off her impressive body, namely cleavage.

Her eyes went wide as she scanned me over. "Why are you naked?"

I shrugged taking another sip then put it on the counter next to me. "I sleep that way. It's like a constant reminder that I'm not in the hell hole of my childhood."

"I-I see." Ultear stuttered with a tint of pink on her cheeks. She walked over to sit on a stool at the island in front of me. "What kept you up?"

I looked to the floor away from her. "A nightmare of sorts."

"Do...you really have nightmares about the pit fights you were in?"

I sighed. "Why wouldn't I?" I looked up to the time mage. "It was an extreme and traumatic situation. Anyone, human or Void Demon, will have scars from that." Ultear seemed to shrink a little looking down from my eyes. "What kept you up?"

She took in a trembling breath then let it out slowly. "Nightmares, visions, I don't know." Ultear huffed then put her arms over her chest in a protective manner.

It was clear that whatever dreams she was having bothered her greatly. I could sense the pain in her voice and see it in her body language. She was scared at the vary least and maybe insecure well. "What do you see in these...dreams?" I asked grabbing the rum glass to take another sip.

Her hands clamped down onto her arms tightly. "I see death and destruction caused by my own hands. The blood of hundreds bathing the ground red while bodies line broken streets." Her eyes slammed shut though I could see the tears at the corner of them. "My mother focused on teaching two boys, Lyone and Gray. Me turning away from them to go back to the lab to suffer those horrible experiments willingly."

It was then she started sobbing quietly as those tears began to slide down her cheeks. I put down my drink carefully then walked over to the human. I put a hand on her shoulder and shook it once. "Relax Ultear." I spoke calmly making her eyes open. "You are a member of Fairy Tail. You have not killed anyone until recently, and it was because you were given no alternative." She stared at me for almost a minute then threw herself at me. As soon as her arms were around me Ultear buried her head in my chest. She shook letting tears flow that felt a little cold though I didn't care. She needed to get this out of her, release the pain felt in some way.

For some time I stayed standing slowly petting her head in a comforting manner, or hopefully comforting. Eventually she stopped and cleared her throat. "I didn't have these dreams until that job with you." Ultear said still sounding sad.

I couldn't blame her for being so upset about this. It was thrust upon her without warning and it was dark. Many humans would break from that; visions of them committing great acts of evil. I smiled a little. "It's a testament to your will that you haven't lost your mind Ultear." I commented making the human shift her head. That action tickled my chest thanks to her hair, though I managed not to laugh. "I suspect you are seeing yourself in a different time. One where I am not present and the same one where your mother did not see you when you came back to her."

"A different time?" She repeated staring at me skeptical.

"Exactly." I commented looking down into her onyx eyes. "Sometimes all it takes is one choice to affect the course of history for a long time. In the time line you see in your dreams circumstances and choices were different. In those dreams events played out differently leading you to cause death and destruction." I paused slowly removing her from me so that I could place both hands on her shoulders. "However that didn't happen, because you were able to reunite with your mother."

Ultear sniffled then wiped her eyes of tears. "Those dreams are me seeing another time line?" She asked and I nodded. "Then it was a possibility that didn't come to pass?"

I smirked releasing my grip on her shoulders. "Time is a fickle thing." I said turning around to have more rum. "You may be able to perceive glimpses of the future with your magic, but nothing is certain." I added grabbing the glass and taking a large gulp.

"How do you deal with it?" Ultear asked and I raised an eyebrow. "Does killing bother you?"

"No." I answered. "At this point killing doesn't bother me. One of the reasons I am a Magic Council Executioner. However if it is a friend I am forced to kill then it will." I took a gulp of the potent alcohol then put the glass down once again. "The fact that you are bothered by killing another is a good sign."

She tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"This," I paused holding up a finger. "Most humans can't bring themselves to kill another human being. It is normal to be bothered by it, because most label killing as evil." I stopped taking another gulp of the lime tinted rum. "When you start to enjoy the act of killing for the sake of killing you become a monster as much as any being I hunt for the Magic Council."

"That makes sense I suppose." Ultear shrugged.

I shrugged as well. "Its pretty complicated, but that is about as simple as I can put it." Silence filled the air after that giving some time for Ultear to think. "You have to find a way to cope with killing or it will tear you apart. I can't tell you how, you must figure that out for yourself."

Ultear nodded adjusting her yukata, tightening the belt to keep it in place. "What was your nightmare about?"

I nearly spit out some rum, barely managing to swallow it. That question had caught me off guard though I shouldn't have been surprised by it. Placing it once more on the counter I crossed my arms under my breasts. "My daughters..." I paused taking a calming breath. "And an old friend who is possessed by darkness."

Ultear stared wide eyed and slack jawed. "Daughters?" she muttered though I heard her clearly.

I let a small smile form on my lips as I turned my gaze to the wall near her. "As unlikely as it seems I am the mother of three girls, though I don't raise them." I paused reaching for the rum glass. I guzzled what was left quickly feeling the buzz of alcohol and the mixture burn my throat momentarily. It was gone as fast as it had manifested. "However I plan to since I'm in Fairy Tail now."

"How..." Ultear paused then shook her head, composing herself. "How old are they and whose the father?"

"The three of them are two years old, however they are mentally and physically five."

"That makes no sense." Ultear said placing a hand on her chin. "If they were born two years ago how can they be more like they were born five years ago?"

"Different biology Ultear." I supplied crossing my arms again. "I may have aged the same way humans do, but my daughters are born from two full demons. This means they will hit maturity before human peers by a few years." I explained as the time mage mulled it over. "My daughters are three years ahead in terms of maturity to when they were born."

A small grin came to Ultear's lips. "You didn't answer my other question."

"Their father was a powerful Void Demon and a member of Void's Saw." I said tightening the grip on my arms. "I killed him a few days after he raped me."

That grin vanished. "I'm sorry I-"

"It's alright." I cut her off. "You didn't know that, like most of the world." With this conversation there was no way in hell I could go back to sleep, even with Erza. "Where did Raz go after Erza and I went to take a shower?"

Ultear shrugged making her yukata shift. It nearly left one of her ample breasts exposed to the world despite the belt. "He left the guild hall when Natsu did, though he didn't say where he was going."

"That's fine." I said before running a hand over my hair. "I've got something I can do for a while." In a flash I was dressed with pants that ended about mid shin and another black sports bra.

"What are you going to do?" Ultear asked as I felt her eyes watch me move towards the kitchen entrance.

"Training." I replied exiting the kitchen. Once out of it I teleported to the Void where I usually do training. The clearing still held scars from sparing against Erza yesterday. I walked past those marks to the base of the mountain and one of the quarries I made. This one was the largest with several dozen meters or so carved out of the side of the mountain. All that stone just sat off to either side unused.

"All that stone would be useful for the house." A familiar voice commented from a little behind me.

"So you've found a suitable spot I take it?" I said turning to look over my shoulder at my empowered clone.

"Aye." My clone replied. Her outfit had changed from the one yesterday to a dark red long sleeve shirt and matching skirt that only went to mid thigh. Her hair was tied into a braid that draped over a shoulder and onto her chest. "It is located on another planetoid in a mountain range with forests and hot springs nearby. There is even a river near there too if you want to fish anything up."

"That's quite the spot you've found." I commented stretching arms over my head. "Might as well make use of it, but do so after I've blown off some steam."

"Oh?" My clone inquired. "You and Erza already get into a fight?"

"No!" I snapped clenching a fist that sparked with void energy. My clone raised her hands in surrender. I took in a deep breath and released it slowly. "A nightmare about the girls with Jellal killing them and those in Fairy Tail."

My clone's gaze shifted to the ground. "Frustrating indeed." she remarked. "I'll go leave a message with Erza saying that you are here to release some steam. After that I'll come back here to get stone to make the house." With that a portal materialized next to her. "If you plan on keeping me active for a long time might as well call me Anita." She added then stepped through the portal.

I smiled a bit at that as the portal vanished. Turning my attention back to the mountainside I held up a hand. Above it void energy formed into a glowing ball, then it shifted slightly. After that shift the orb above my hand shined, reflecting my face perfectly. I focused on it making the orb ripple then burst into void colored flames. Those lasted for roughly ten seconds then disappeared. I focused power towards my left hand and pictured flames around it. At my command void energy erupted like flames as I had pictured.

" ** **Void Fire Blast****." I commanded shoving my flame covered hand forwards at the wall. The flames shot forwards and seared the stone a little, leaving some scorch marks. I narrowed my eyes at the scorch marks. Using my right hand I followed up doing the same thing, but adding more power to it this time. The flame cloud of void colored fire splashed onto the rock scorching more of it and making a few small places glow for a moment or two.

With a grunt I continued to conjure up void fire and launch it at the stone shoving as much of my irritation and fear I could into the spells. It worked to fuel the magic I was doing though it didn't make the manipulation any easier. Much like Chakra from Naruto void energy can be manipulated to have properties of various elements, allowing it to burn like fire or freeze like ice while doing damage the way void does in addition to the elemental nature. That nature manipulation requires a lot of skill to be able to do even for "void ice", which is the easiest element nature for void to conform to. I kept doing fire manipulation for some time slowly burning away rock or melting it down in some parts.

Taking a short break I inhaled and changed the nature of the breath attack I was about to do. " ** **Void Lightning Roar****." I called exhaling a cloud of roaring void colored lightning at the mountainside. It exploded spectacularly showering the area with sparks, though I could feel the sting of electricity on top of fire in my throat. I smirked at the damage as I caught my breath. The void lightning had cut a number of scars deep into the rock in dizzying patterns. After a minute or so I summoned power around me and began changing its nature. " ** **Void Fire Geyser****." I said stomping a foot down onto the ground making a geyser of void fire erupt from the ground in a tight spray many times taller than myself. I fell down to a knee and spat out some blood to the side from my damaged throat.

"You've come a long way with fire manipulation." A voice noted from a distance behind me. That voice belonged to the only other Magic Council Executioner as good as myself. A pointy eared Void Demon and dragon slayer by the name of Erika, though she prefers to be called "Cobra". Without warning water splashed over me though I could feel the void energy within it.

"And you're better with water manipulation than I am still." I shot back standing up to face Cobra. As usual the woman wore her trench coat with studs running up the center to the top of the high collar on it. Under that is her signature dark blue shirt and red leather pants that are baggy to a degree, somewhat hiding her figure. Once again her black hair was cut short with the wild tips resting just past the bottom of her ears.

Cobra smirked. "If you practiced more you'd be better at water manipulation than me, given that you have an easy time with lightning." Her boots crunched on the rocky ground covered in pebbles from my training. "What pissed ya off this time?"

I glanced at the Void Demon I had discovered long ago on one of my first missions as an Executioner. I along with a number of other Executioners attacked a slave trade outpost of Void's Saw. During the ensuing battle a number of the slaves Void's Saw held had been killed in the crossfire of Executioners and Void Cultists. One holding block had a survivor after it had been hit by clashing breath attacks. That one survivor was Cobra whom I had vaguely recognized from the Tower of Heaven. I offered her a place to work and she took it. Since then she has been an Executioner on par with me.

"What do you think Cobra?" I sighed then coughed and spat out some more blood. Like me she had filled out and matured wonderfully being quite the envy of the females of the Magic Council Executioners, and the dream of the males.

"Jose Porla." Cobra said with distaste.

"Yeah." I grunted stripping my cloths off so I could squeeze the void water out from them. "Not just that filth."

"Hmm?" Cobra hummed with a raised eyebrow.

I ringed the sports bra first causing a lot of void water to fall to the ground at my feet. I followed up with the pants then dismissed those so all I had on was a matching blue bra and panties. "Had a nightmare about Jellal killing my daughters and..." I paused as the image of that weird demon surfaced. "Something else."

"What did you see?"

I swallowed forcing myself to review that strange nightmare in my head in detail. "Some wolf type creature of fog that somehow has known me since I was born, Jellal killing my daughters then the corpses of Fairy Tail and some from the Council. Behind him I saw an image of a demon like I've never seen before."

Cobra briefly closed her eyes. At the same time I felt her magic touch my mind, a magic utilizing her ears to read the thoughts of those she wants to or has permission to do so. She opened them before responding with a hand on her chin. "I see what you mean."

"I don't know why, but that thing felt the same as the darkness that overtook him years ago when escaping the Tower."

"Maybe because that is what possessed him?" Cobra shrugged. "On another note the Council wants you and me to dismantle Phantom Lord. Jose Porla has gone too far by harming members of Fairy Tail and killing one of his own guild members."

I grinned punching the palm of a hand with the other. "Good." I commented. "Void's Saw mercenaries killed Qrow and it is time to put down Jose for his arrogance."

"Since Phantom Lord was just ordered to be dismantled they want us to capture as many of them as possible."

"Figures." I muttered. "Send a collection of Rune Knights to Fairy Tail. I know Jose will attack there soon." With a snap of my fingers a portal materialized near me. "I want you to collect my daughters and bring them to Fairy Tail. It's time I should be in their lives more than I have been."

Cobra smiled. "They'll be ecstatic about that."

I turned and walked through the portal I conjured with a small smile. I'll be happy too, and Erza reminded me I won't be alone in raising them. I appeared in the center of my living room falling face first to the floor. Groaning I got up and witnessed the portal vanish from the ceiling. "Damn it." I hissed heading for my room. Once there I started the shower then hopped into when it was warm enough. Ten minutes later I exited the bathroom to find a bloody Gajeel sitting on my bed.

"About time...you...got here." He grumbled as one arm hung limply over his lap. Blood coated most of his frame along with wounds on most of his body. I could tell he was burnt in several places by powerful void magic and cut in many others. "Totomaru and Void's Saw ambushed me. The fire ninja is hospitalized...I killed all the cultists. They-"

I put a finger to his lips silencing the Dragonslayer. "I'll take it from here. So sleep, you've earned it." He nodded weakly then fell back onto my bed out cold. I left him there to sleep off the wounds, but erected a Void Barrier as I left the house so he wouldn't be disturbed. Stepping outside the house I summoned clothing onto me; a simple black t-shirt and blue jeans. With that settled I walked down the street towards Phantom's Oak Town building. Inside the building was an impressive number of mages, roughly 200 or so. Then again the Oak Town branch was one of the biggest for Phantom. Among those I could sense Nissa towards the back and surrounded by a number of the strongest.

Instead of opening the door gently I brought up a foot and kicked the doors open. The result was to my liking as the doors shattered into splinters from the tiny burst of void energy I had used. Silence reigned as those present watched me surprised. Almost a month away from the guild hall and nothing changed, though I could see several demons I knew belonging to Void's Saw. Scanning the raised floor I saw Nissa tied up to a support beam in only bra and underwear that was a matching pink.

"How far you have fallen." I commented with a sigh then the Phantom members began to stand up. "To harm your own and work with known Void's Saw demons." Someone charged at me from the side and on reflex I summoned a blade and sliced upwards at an angle. This resulted in a spray of blood from a severed neck before the body fell to the ground in a thud. I glanced down to see the blood was the red of human. "I give you this one warning: surrender and give me Nissa or die for working with Void's Saw. Your choice."

They all stayed put seemingly thinking over my offer. Then a holographic image appeared, one of Jose Porla standing at the top of the stairs to the raised floor. Those beady eyes of his attempted to bore into me. "Traitor." He hissed. "I should have killed you that day you made a joke about my loss to Makarov."

I smirked pointing at Jose's projection. "Yet you didn't, cause you can't stand the thought of loosing something powerful." The Wizard Saint's projection growled. "You will pay for killing Qrow and for your arrogance, human." I snarled pointing the blade at the projection.

"Kill her!" Jose's projection bellowed then flickered out of existence. At that command the Phantom members charged at me as one human tidal wave.

I let a wicked grin come to my lips displaying one fang. "It's a blood bath!" I roared swinging my sword hand in an arc to my left. Despite not hitting with the blade directly a pressure wave of air hammered into a wave of humans halting their advance. On the other side I waved my right hand in an arc. " ** **Void Frost Geysers****." Screams sounded off from the mages caught in the chain eruption of geysers. Glancing to the right awarded me with the sight of a wall of void ice having encased an entire wave of mages.

" ** **Flamethrower!**** " One of the mages to the to my left called summoning a flamethrower into their hands. From it came a torrent of flames. I smirked switching out the sword in my left hand for the crystal sword that comes with the Sea Empress Armor. In one wave of the weapon a tidal wave of water crashed into the fires of the flamethrower instantly dousing it. The water continued on launching a number of mages into the wall and through it.

I threw my weapon at one of the mages next to Nissa scoring a dead center shot. That fat man dressed in gray robes fell onto his back with a thud and the sword buried to the hilt. I raised a foot then brought it down channeling void magic. " ** **Void Demon's Devastation.**** " The moment my foot slammed onto the ground a shock wave erupted outwards from in in a circle to the edges of the building. A few seconds later a pillar of void energy the size of the guild hall roared destroying whatever was left standing.

I walked towards where Nissa had been held with that support beam being the only thing standing. The barmaid fell down finally free of her restraints and I caught her before she hit the ground. Up close I could see the marks of light torture: burns and cuts along her arms and legs with one or two on her stomach. The human coughed a bunch then gripped me as tightly as she could. It was so weak that I could barely feel her holding onto me.

"You came for me?" She rasped.

Gently laying her down onto the ground I nodded. "Why wouldn't I?" It was eerie quiet after my attack. I couldn't hear screaming coming from the streets around the ruined guild hall. Why? Surely there would be some form of screaming after an attack that leveled a building in one go. Looking around limbs poked out from under rubble at impossible angles, decorating the stone and wood red. A few spots held a blue hue to them. Sensing movement I summoned a pistol and pulled the trigger. A satisfying splat followed up the shot. More rubble began to shift as the Void Demons that had been wounded moved. I quickly counted fifteen of them, standard foot soldiers of Void's Saw.

Without warning I felt a powerful presence and dodged to the left. Whatever it was cut through my arm in one strike severing it just below the elbow. My blood sprayed onto the floor near Nissa before it stopped. The power I sensed came from the woman in front of me, dressed in form fitting combat armor. The armor itself resonated with void based enchantments meant to enhance attacks with void energy and to protect with it. In her hands was a ornate curved long sword etched with glowing runes. That sword resonated power far beyond the woman holding it, easily overshadowing her.

Sensing her form I recognized the magic signature she had. One of Void's Saw's "Ascendants" whom are their champions. She and I had fought on several occasions though I won every time. Across that purple armor runes glowed faintly red, something she didn't have last time. Beside me Nissa's breath was frantic as she was probably staring at my severed arm, blue blood, or the Ascendant in front of me.

"Even if you are an Ascendant Caeza you can't use that weapon." I said glaring at the gray skinned woman with pointed ears like an elf. She pretty much was one in her Secondary Form, which translates to a Void Demon's true form. "It will not bend to you."

Caeza returned my glare before laughing darkly. "I can Aether." She spoke pointing the magic artifact at me. "The Abyssal Armament of Adaptation, Tyrant, bends to me!" Just then a ethereal blue glow surrounded the blade in her hands before a roar sounded in the air, one that was a cross between a wolf howl and a dragon's roar.

The two of us are almost even, but if she does have that legendary weapon truly obey her...This will end badly. I began summoning power causing the air to rumble and lots of rubble near me to float or simply disintegrate from the pressure. With a mere thought a clone of myself flickered into existence. "Take Nissa to the house." I commanded and the clone quickly obeyed. At that moment Caeza attacked going for the clone. With a grunt I intercepted blocking Tyrant with my right arm as a Void Blade.

Caeza's eyes narrowed on me. "Cannibalizing your own power to regrow your right arm and turn it into a Void Blade in a matter of seconds." She noted pushing more with Tyrant in an upwards angle. I pushed back to keep the blade where it was. "I'd expect nothing less from you."

I shoved my left hand at her side. " ** **Void Lightning Fist****!" The attack hit Caeza in her ribs launching the Ascendant a ways from me. She landed on rubble covered ground and rolled to her feet using the momentum. The place I had struck her sparked purple then faded. "Damn it!" I cursed glaring at her. Tyrant had absorbed most of the blow leaving behind little more than a hard to see mark.

"Time to taste your own power War Maiden!" Caeza called pointing Tyrant's blade tip at me. Green lightning sparked around the blade and her with a focused orb at the blade's tip. It didn't take long for that ball of energy to roar forwards as a beam. Instantaneously the Lightning Empress Armor was upon my form and its weapon in hand. Stabbing the weapon into the ground a shield formed in front of me blocking the impact of the electrical beam. I held my ground with effort feeling the raw power Tyrant had shot at me.

The sentient blade had eaten the void lightning I had set at Caeza then launched it back at me even stronger. Pulling out my weapon from the ground I spun kicking the Void Ascendant in the head. I heard a sickening crack at the moment of impact before she flew through the air to land out in the middle of the street. I wasted little time rushing after her in a sprint. In a flash I swapped weapons for the Blackwing sword while changing my right arm to a non-human form. That shape shift comprised of making an arm far larger than normal with dense chitin for armor and four powerful clawed fingers. To top that off the arms bore several spines at the elbow.

Caeza's eyes widened as she raised Tyrant to block my left hand swing. She managed to block the attack in time though the blow forced her down to a knee. The remainder of the force created a crater in the street that shook loose objects all around. At that moment her jaw snapped back into place and she spat out blood. I shifted placing more weight down onto Tyrant forcing Caeza to stay put, however something stirred on the ground. Bringing my right hand forwards I caught a pillar of Void Frost.

The Void Ascendant grinned shoving me off of her. Using that I back flipped narrowly avoiding Tyrant's sharp edge that sliced a few strands of hair. She had definitely gotten better since our last encounter. Changing my right arm back to human form I called up Galefury. The moment I landed she charged slashing at me with Tyrant charged with Void lightning. I parried her attack with Galefury feeling the two clashing lightning magics surge then I attacked with the Blackwing Sword. A purple flash of light made me raise an eyebrow until my left hand weapon struck another, halting it.

" ** **Void Demon's Strike!**** " I called kicking Caeza dead center with a foot and releasing a burst of potent Void Energy. The attack caused a concussive wave to erupt sending loose bits of stone flying, let alone my target. She soared down the street before rolling to a stop. Caeza coughed up blood as the cuts on her form from the street healed before my eyes, no doubt the work of Tyrant. She clenched a hand tightly around Tyrant's handle while the other one became a fist. Power than began flowing from her strongly giving the woman a purple glow around her body.

" ** **Void fire Roar****!" Caeza said releasing a gout of void fire at me. The front of it formed into a rough demonic face with fanged teeth.

I grinned switching armor and weapons. The armor was Flame Empress while the weapon was the Frost Empress Sword. I coated myself in a thin barrier of void energy that conformed to my body like a second skin. Then I stabbed the sword into the ground at my feet kneeling. " ** **Ice Lightning Shock Wave****!" A tidal wave of ice summoned by the sword and crackling with Void Lightning surged down the street. Channeling power to my attack I kept it going impacting the Void Flames. Carts and other things on the side of the street caught fire, or just disintegrated in the wake of clashing power. Sensing a surge of power I pulled the Frost Empress Sword out of the ground and jumped onto a nearby roof top.

Several moments later a blast of ethereal green energy roared forth. It vaporized everything down the street cutting a path of destruction from Caeza to somewhere outside the city. The carved land was blackened and shimmering with heat. The Void Ascendant fell to one knee breathing hard while leaning on Tyrant. Her body was scorched bearing burns and slices from something. I guess she had been damaged by that beam of destruction as well as my combined attack.

Without warning a tear in the air appeared with someone stepping out from it. Past the edges of the tear I could see the colors of the Void. The person in question was a man radiating immense magical power. He wore a black suit that shined slightly in the light. Over that rested a trench coat that was black and appeared to be made of some thin material. His golden eyes found me quickly then scanned the area, finally resting on Caeza.

"Now is not the time to fight Aether, Caeza." The man said in a rich British sounding accent. "Even though you were never tested it seems you are capable of using Tyrant."

I narrowed my eyes at the man, pointing my blade at him. "Who are you?"

Those gold eyes of his found me again and at that moment I noticed tan skin instead of hair. Fear crept up my spine at those eyes that held something terrible in them. They were the kind that guarded everything the owner thought. "I go by many names little girl, though you may call me Damian." I resisted the urge to take a step back from that man who was clearly not human despite his form. "You are of interest to Void's Saw."

"Why?" I growled not licking that one bit. Me of interest to Void's Saw? Why in the hell would I be when I kill them on a semi-regular basis?

"There is no need to tell you." He replied picking up Caeza and draping her over one shoulder. The Void Ascendant had apparently fallen unconscious when we were talking. "I will not come for you now, but I can claim you whenever I wish Aether Wade." He said making me shiver a little before Damian stepped through the tear, with it closing behind him.

I stood still for a few moments then dismissed my weapon. Then I switched back to my clothing from earlier. I turned in the direction of Magnolia before a burst of light and magic caught my attention. The light was rainbow colored and the magic I felt was incredible like a charged beam. I gritted my teeth then rushed off towards Fairy Tail. That bastard fired the Jupiter Cannon! Jumping off the last roof of the outermost building of Oak Town I shape shifted into a phoenix. I heard several gasps but ignored them flying at speed.

Within two minutes I was close enough to Fairy Tail to see the wreck it was. The building was full of holes that held touches of lingering Void Energy. Out in the ocean stood a robot that did resemble the main base of Phantom. All around that base floated small round shadows that reeked of Jose's magic. In front of the robot was a massive cannon barrel aimed at Fairy Tail and Magnolia. On the ground I spotted Erza in broken armor and bleeding. I flew down heading for the redhead shape shifting to human form before landing with a crash.

"What the hell was that?" Someone called from a distance but I ignored them.

I summoned Galefury then slashed sideways. Wind obeyed my command and cleared the dust cloud in a matter of moments. Erza's head shifted allowing me to see the blood covering part of her face.

"Aether..." Erza said with the barest of a smile on her lips and relief in her eyes.

A series of thuds alerted me to the arrival of someone familiar. Looking up to my left showed Raz covered in blue blood while there was some red mixed in. "About time." The lizardlisk grumbled, though he grinned. "The strongest fighters here are Erza, Mirajane, and you."

"What about the others?" I asked sensing around the area to get a feel for the state Fairy Tail was in. It wasn't good to put it mildly. Many of them were near exhaustion and felt wounded. On the other hand Jose's phantom's were fed by his own power keeping them active. Then the Void's Saw forces I felt were close to full strength, but not quite there. "Are Gildarts, Mistogan, or Lexus coming to help?"

"No." Erza commented drawing my attention to her. She had moved to sit on her knees using a sword to keep sitting upright. She must have summoned it when I wasn't paying attention. "We can't contact Gildarts or Mistogan. However Lexus abandoned us."

"That will bite him in the ass." I growled before feeling magic began to build up inside the robot castle. I faced it to see an orb form at the front of the cannon barrel. I could easily feel the magical difference in this preparing blast versus the one before. This blast was a mixture of potent void energy and shadow magic. "So he's going to fire it again with a different combination?"

"A different combination?" Raz and Erza said at the same time.

I smirked. "Does that fool know nothing about Void Demons?"

"You do realize we are directly in line of fire Aether?" Raz noted but I ignored him and walked to be in front of them.

"I'm well aware of that." I replied dismissing Galefury and holding up an arm in a defensive manner. Almost ten seconds later the cannon fired the magical payload. It hit me hard pushing me back a foot or two though I held my ground. For some moments the blast of magic stayed put then exploded around me. As expected the magic contained within it was dense in void energy and shadow magic. I eagerly sucked up that energy combination in much the same way Natsu eats fire. I felt instantly revitalized and a little overcharged with that much power.

"You're insane." Raz commented from behind me.

"Maybe a little." I shot back gathering the power I had eaten to replenish my own stores. The air around me shimmered like a heat wave as I inhaled. " ** **Void Demon's Roar****!" I bellowed unleashing a massive beam like blast of Voidslayer magic. It cut through the lacrima for the Jupiter Cannon then followed where I turned my head cutting a path from there to take off the left arm of the robot castle.

"Incredible..." Erza said probably staring at the Phantom base now missing one arm with a section cut out from my breath attack.

I turned around and knelt down giving her a chaste kiss on the lips. I stood up before she could react and grinned. "About time the Rune Knights got here." I said feeling their presence in Magnolia. However closer I felt three familiar presences, they were Richard's daughters.

"Rune Knights are here?" Raz said sounding surprised.

"I ordered Cobra to send a detachment of Rune Knights to here so that they could capture as many Phantom members as possible." I explained shaking my head. "Though I don't know how many will surrender." A scream sounded somewhere above me so I looked up just in time to see a robed figure falling. Sadly I didn't have enough time to react and whoever it was plowed into me. They knocked the wind out of me and created a crater in the ground.

"Ugh..." The figure on top of me groaned. "Executioner Wade!?"

I looked down knowing the voice well enough. It was Sergeant Hunter of the Rune Knights under Yajima's control. As usual his spiky black hair was a wild mess that stayed close to his head. I narrowed my eyes into his sapphire blue ones noticing that his head was resting on my chest. "You need to work on your teleportation skills Hunter." I barked causing the human to instantly get off of me and stand at attention.

"Sorry Ma'am!" Hunter replied quickly.

I stood up dusting myself off. "Since you are here Hunter create a line of telepathy to all of Phantom Lord."

Hunter saluted me then clapped his purple gloved hands together once generating a screen in front of me. Then he tapped my head with two fingers then his creating a mental connection that would allow me to utilize his telepathy. There was a few seconds pause before the screen in front of me showed a zoomed out image of Jose sitting in some sort of throne like chair, and at the same time I felt dozens upon dozens of minute touches.

"Mages of Phantom Lord..." I paused making sure I had their attention. Even from here I could hear my voice echo from the robot castle. "As of today your guild has broken various Magic Council laws, chief among them is waging war against another legal guild. On top of that Jose Porla hired Void's Saw to kill one of his own guild members." I caught Hunter's surprised expression out of the corner of my eyes while Raz's tail smashed into the ground, a clear sign of his anger. "If you are not aware; having any dealings with Void's Saw automatically makes a legal guild a dark guild, and a target for Magic Council Executioners. So I give you this one chance: Surrender to the Magic Council within the next ten minutes or die. The choice is yours." I gave hunter a signal to cut all connections by dragging a finger over my throat.

Sergeant Hunter fell to one knee. "That were far more Void Demons in that building that I thought there would be."

I sighed sitting down next to Erza. "That means most of them are members of Void's Saw."

"That fiend has to die!" Raz roared making me look to him. The lizardlisk closed one paw into a fist then smacked it down onto the ground. It left a good two foot deep crater while I could see fury in his orange eyes.

"Why the ten minute warning?" Erza asked laying her head on my right shoulder.

I reached over and gently rubbed her scalp earning a content sigh from the redhead. "The Council wants to capture as many of them alive as possible. Plus I wanted a little break if I could get one."

"Do you really think you can take on Jose Porla?" Hunter asked shifting to sit down with a deep exhale of breath. "The man is a Wizard Saint after all..." I could hear the uncertainty in his voice clearly. In honesty I wasn't sure if I could subdue Jose, let alone kill him.

I avoided his gaze and fixed it upon the ground in front of my feet. I have fought countless guilds on my own without backup. Some of those fights had leveled towns or cities when taking on the guildmasters whom were around my level of strength. However...There is a staggering difference between an S-class mage and a Wizard Saint. Could I bridge the gap and kill him for all the wrong that human has done? Could I win, or will I die trying?

"Aether." Erza said making me look at her. "Remember that you are not alone in this fight."

I took a deep breath and let it out. "You're right." I said letting her presence dissolve most of my worries. Erza shook slightly making me raise an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

"I feel...hungry for something. Though I'm not sure what." Erza said taking her head off of my shoulder.

I had an idea of what she wanted. "You're wanting my blood."

"Eh?!" Erza said scooting a bit from me shocked as her hands were almost in the universal position of surrender.

"You're wounded and the easiest way for Void Demons to heal is to consume the blood of their own kind. Void Demon flesh also has power in it though not as heavily concentrated as blood." I explained and Erza calmed down from her surprise, but didn't move. "Why do you think Void Demons have fangs as we do?" As emphasis I moved my lower lip to let one fang slide over it.

"Do...I have to drink your blood?" Erza asked tentative.

I dismissed my shirt to make it easier for Erza to bite down on my neck. I caught sight of Hunter's flustered face off to the side. "It is a natural part of being a Void Demon. So follow your instincts and drink some of my blood." I said trying to convey some form of reassurance. It seemed to work as Erza gained a more confidant look to her eyes. She closed the distance then opened her mouth wide showing two fangs that grew in length. A moment of two later they stopped growing before she bit down at the base of my neck on the right side. There was a slight sting of pain that faded quickly though I didn't feel much of anything else. I could feel some suction from her mouth, and not the fangs making me chuckle. "Imagine your fangs are straws and you are drinking through them."

Then I felt my blood get drained, meaning that the imagery helped. I let her drink it for about a minute or so then tapped her on the neck. Slowly Erza pulled away licking her lips to get some blood that had been missed. Already I could see all of her injuries healed though blood still covered parts of her form.

"Wow." Erza commented with a somewhat dreamy look on her face.

"Do you think you are in a position to make demands Fairy Tail?" Jose's voice echoed from the robot castle. Just then the shades floating around formed into a massive one. Several seconds later a female scream sounded from the giant shade. I clenched a hand tightly feeling rage in my blood. That scream was the sound of one being tortured.

"No rest for the wicked." I hissed steadily releasing power as I stood up. I held up a hand charging a spell, focusing upon that rage to use as fuel. " ** **Void Blast****." I growled releasing the beam at the giant shade. At first the shade's form rippled as if absorbing the impact then the spell ripped a hole through it. After that hole the shade exploded followed by silence then cheers from the members of Fairy Tail. "Get Natsu and tell him Lucy is in trouble." I said then jumped once again taking the form of a phoenix.

It barely took time to reach the windows above the chamber housing the smoking remains of the Jupiter Cannon. In that room I could sense a dozen Void Demons and Jose Porla himself. The Wizard Saint overshadowed the others in the castle, besides those in the same room as him. I surged head first into the wall shattering it to pieces and changing back to human form. In the room stood a number of Void's Saw soldiers dressed in their form fitting battle armor that was gray with purple runes on it. Also in the room stood Aria and Juvia, though her eyes were dulled.

"Aether Wade..." Juvia spoke, her voice emotionless and slow. I could feel the work of another binding her thoughts making a mental effort to control her.

"Kill her." Jose ordered making the group of Void's Saw soldiers rush me. I grinned summoning my favorite assault rifle. Once in hand I wasted no time opening fire onto the cultists thinning them down quickly. Only one of them got close enough for me to kick back and put a three round burst into his head. With that dealt with Aira stepped forward taking off his blindfold. At the action his power skyrocketed coloring his body in a light green aura. His eyes were all white save for an odd ball pattern that was something akin to a circle cut into four sections and slightly separated from each other.

Tears began falling from his eyes to stream down his cheeks. "How sad it is that you have sided with the enemy!" Aira said all the while crying through it. It annoyed me to no end that he did that, though the power behind his abilities couldn't be dined when that happened.

"You are a powerful mage Aria." I spoke calmly not worried in the least by his blindfold being off. "I will give you this one chance to surrender."

"I will not surrender!" Aria spoke charging a spell. Probably his draining air space spell. "You betrayed Jose and so you must be punished!"

I shook my head. "Death it is." I summoned the Blackwing Sword into my left hand then surged forwards. Within moments I reached Aria and cut his head off in one swing. I landed glancing behind me to see blood spewing out of the severed neck like a fire hydrant. "Pathetic." I commented then turned my attention back to Jose and Juvia. With a thought I switched out my weapon for Galefury once again. Juvia walked forwards moving a lot like a doll with fogged over eyes.

" ** **Water Nebula.**** " Juvia said, her voice as dull sounding as she looked at the moment. With that command water appeared around Juvia then came at me in a swirling torrent. In a flash I equipped the Flame Empress Sword in my other hand sending a wave of fire that extinguished the water.

Steam coated the area in front of Juvia so I swung Galefury in an arc. " ** **Cascading Thunder.**** " I whispered sending a roaring arc of electricity at Juvia. I knew the attack hit because she screamed before a thud sounded. " ** **Enveloping Mist.**** " Through Galefury I commanded the mist to envelope the rainwoman's form and move her elsewhere. The place I pictured was where Erza was still camped. As a single cloud the mist moved past me and out of the castle. I dismissed the Flame Empress Sword since I wasn't planning on using it just yet against Jose.

Jose slowly clapped his hands together. "Impressive." He remarked, and from his tone it was hard to tell if he was being sarcastic or serious. After another few moments he stopped clapping. "You and Qrow were too alike." Jose said as magic began to gather around him. "You had more loyalty to him than to me."

I snorted summoning power to me as well, making the air heavy with magic from the both of us. "I had more loyalty to Qrow because he was reasonable, unlike you." I said pointing at him with a finger. "All you wanted was the power that came with being the strongest Guild. You couldn't tolerate it when Fairy Tail rose up to be on par with your own guild. And them having mages that were on par with me and Qrow or stronger."

Jose growled before waving a hand at me. That action caused a wave of shadow to surge towards me. I rolled to the side avoiding the attack by only a few inches. It crashed and destroyed whatever the attack hit. "Before Fairy Tail Phantom Lord was the strongest guild with the most fame."

"So what if Fairy Tail became a rival for the strongest guild?" I said feeling more of his magic permeate the area giving it a slight black fog. The man narrowed his eyes at me as his appearance began to change. Those changes made him look monstrous rather than silly as his normal attire suggested, namely with his eyes becoming black with a tiny white spot for an iris. "It is healthy to have competition though I don't believe this is about Fairy Tail, is it? It's about Makarov Drayer."

"Shut up!" He roared causing another wave of magic to come for me. This time it took on the shape of a large shade.

I cut the Shade in half as soon as it reached me with Galefury disbanding the magical creature in one go. "It will take more than that to take me down, human." I noted switching out my cloths for Blackwing armor. I charged at him slashing downwards missing the man as he stepped out of the way in time. Following up I turned and chased him around the room for a little bit watching as he dodged my swings. "You're nimble for one who doesn't use melee attacks."

Jose chuckled jumping back to create some distance. "It doesn't hurt to be able to avoid damage."

"One of the few things I can agree with you on." I prepared a swing with Galefury then cut horizontally sending out an arc of electricity. With a wave of his hand upwards Shades formed a wall blocking the attack. " ** **Drilling Tempest!**** " I called thrusting Galefury forwards. This made the weapon conjure up a pointed vortex of wind that went right for Jose's Shades. The spell drilled through them and exploded on the other side. Sensing magic around me I dismissed Galefury. " ** **Void Spines!**** " Dozens of spines emerged from my form stabbing into a hoard of Shades before they could touch me. Then I spun like a top dissolving them of form.

" ** **Dark Pulse."**** Jose spoke waving a hand in front of him in an arc.

In a flash my Flight Armor was on allowing me to escape the shadowy explosion in a few seconds. The spell had destroyed a portion of the room and a wall that led to the much more open Main Hall. Using the armor's speed I closed the distance between me and the Wizard Saint. " ** **Void Demon's Fist!**** " I punched him left handed hard. The attack connected sending the man flying through the hole in the wall he made. " ** **Void Demon's Roar!**** " I unleashed the breath attack at him further destroying the wall.

Dark laughter echoed from where Jose had gone. The magic I felt was thick around him, similarly to a barrier. "The destructive power of Void Demons is incredible." Jose spoke as the dust cloud cleared. The bastard had concentrated magic around his form to protect him.

"Indeed." I remarked summoning two guns while Jose raised his hands encased in shadow. The guns were Thompson machine guns allowing for fully automatic fire. I opened up with both weapons just before he could get off whatever he had planned. I held the triggers of both weapons until they stopped firing, then dismissed them for another. " ** **Lavamaw****." I called summoning the only lava spewing weapon I had. I yanked the lever spewing forth lava that collided with Jose's spell. Once again the place was rocked with an explosion as the spells detonated creating a steam cloud from molten rock. However some part of his spell got through grazing my right arm and legs, easily cutting through what little protection Flight Armor provided.

I raised a foot them stomped it down. " ** **Void Geysers!"**** geysers of Void Energy formed around Jose making him jump back to avoid damage, then they followed. The chain eruption pushed him back towards one end of the main hall. That part was the back end with stairs leading up to another floor. Jose stood at the base of the stairs holding his hands upwards conjuring up shades. Dismissing Lavamaw I gathered power and summoned a hoard of weapons around me.

"Ah." Jose commented with a twisted looking grin on his face. "The skill that made you known as 'War Maiden'." He finished having summoned a dozen shades around him. I matched two melee weapons to each of them, twenty four weapons in total for me. "Kill her." Jose commanded. The shades obeyed rushing towards me like a small wave of zombies.

I grinned feeling the rush of battle take hold. With mere thoughts the weapons I summoned intercepted the shades while I called forth the Flame and Frost Empress Swords to my hands. I crossed them in front of me before taking a wide stance pointing the Frost Empress Sword at Jose with its fire twin pointed the other way. "Bring it on human." I challenged. Once again magic surged around Jose, but that is to be expected since he is a Wizard Saint. Jose charged at me with his hands encased in shade magic. The human wasn't as fast as I was though I could tell his strikes would hurt from how much magic he tied around his arms.

I leaned out of the way of his first strike that came from an upwards angle then blocked a backhand of his right fist with my right sword. I grunted at the force making me take a step sideways to avoid falling over. He had a surprised look on his face so I took the opportunity and attacked with the blade in my left hand. " ** **Frostburst!**** " I called striking Jose in the ribs with the edge of the blade at the same time ice exploded from the weapon.

Jose screamed in pain and kicked me in the stomach. That sent me flying into the wall to leave a dent. I got out of it quickly landing on my feet. I noted that the spell hadn't done much damage. Mainly destroying that part of his new outfit that was less flamboyant and far more militaristic. There was a small wound that bled a little, but not much. I spun keeping an eye on Jose whom was recovering quicker than I expected. During the spin I brought both blades next to each other and channeled their magics together. Once I finished spinning facing Jose again I swung the blades in an arc in front of me downwards. " ** **Frostfire Blitz!"**** I said sending the combined fire and ice magic at the Wizard Saint.

With a humph Jose weaved a hand in front of him. " ** **Dark Pulse."**** He spoke making another explosion. At first his shadow engulfed the roaring fire and ice then that burst forth to hit him. Once it did the magics detonated shaking the room, causing small bits of stone to fall from the ceiling. The smoke cloud cleared in moments showing Jose with dust on his robes and some minor cuts and burns on his arms and one or two on his legs. "You are truly remarkable Aether Wade." Jose commented getting up from the floor to dust himself off. "You are the first to last this long against me. However the real fight begins now, and ends with your death."

I tightened my grip on the blades in my hands as I stood in another stance that was closer then the last one with the Frost Empress blade in front of me sideways and the Flame Empress blade behind me in the same manner. "I'll take that as a complement...And this fight will end with your death for killing Qrow Kain." I growled loosing the grin I had and narrowing my gaze at the Wizard Saint in silent fury.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Where are all the Phantom members?" The card mage Cana Alberona asked surveying the sky then the ground. The clear sky shined brightly onto the battered grounds behind the Fairy Tail building. Like all of the mages of Fairy Tail she was battered, bruised, and low on power.

"They surrendered." Someone noted next to the card mage making the brunette look at the speaker.

"Wuah!" Cana squeaked taking several steps back from the reptilian face of Raz. "Don't get so close to me!" She hissed making the giant reptile laugh.

"I'll try not to." Raz replied turning to look over the mages of Fairy Tail. "Though to be honest you were not paying attention." He added. The collective mages let out sighs and sat down for a much needed rest. All of them were battered and running on empty from fighting Jose's shades for so long. A few others had been wounded by some Void's Saw cultists that made it to the ground, though Mirajane had made short work of them.

Cana sighed knowing the lizardlisk was right. She took a look around then put away her cards into her ever present shoulder bag. "At least we get a break."

"That may be true but others have to pick up the fight." Mirajane commented as she walked up to Cana and Raz. The S-class mage was in her typical dress, though it was torn making the article of clothing shorter than normal. She sported a few bruises on her arms and legs and her hair was disheveled a little.

"Is that old geezer doing alright?" Raz asked turning his head to Mira.

The demon take over mage shook her head. "Master is still injured so one of our S-class mages will have to battle Phantom Lord's guild master."

"One already is." Erza Scarlet said drawing the mages attentions. Mira looked over the redhead noting a lack of visible injuries, but the blood stains in her cloths remained. "Aether rushed in to fight him."

"By herself?" Mirajane asked eyes widening in disbelief. As if on cue a portion of the castle exploded outwards displaying a chaotic beam of black and purple energy. The potency of magic in that beam was simply frightening. The demon take over mage could sense that the magic had been Aether's spell. __Is Aether really an S-class mage?__ Mirajane thought.

"What are they doing here?" Raz commented turning to face towards Magnolia. It wasn't long before three females came into view. The three of them stopped as one stunned at the destruction before them.

"What the hell?!" The black haired teen commented looking over the destroyed guild hall of the infamous Fairy Tail guild. "What happened here?"

"Gwen? Reina?" Raz spoke surprised making the three females face him. "What are you guys doing here?"

They ran past the pile of rubble that was once Fairy Tail's guild building and stopped in front of Raz. This time the three of them were wearing shirts and pants along with sandals for the warm weather. Gwen being the tallest and most fit of the three reached Raz first then her sisters right behind her.

"We came here to join Fairy Tail, but why is the guild in ruins?" Reina said stopping to Gwen's right with the third sister being on the other side.

"Phantom Lord instigated a Guild War with Fairy Tail." Raz answered then sat up to gesture around them with one paw. "This is the result of that."

"That's not the only thing Phantom Lord is guilty of." A female commented earning the group's attention. The woman standing atop a pile of ruble was none other than Executioner Cobra. "Jose Porla is working with Void's Saw so his guild has to be disbanded."

"Void's Saw?" Gwen muttered in shock. She had heard rumors of some organization that went about doing dark things from those around her teacher. Was Void's Saw the same group the rumors spoke of?

"I would advise you three to enter Magnolia in front of Fairy Tail where the Magic Council has set up tents for the Phantom Lord members that have surrendered." Cobra said gesturing over her shoulder with a thumb. She shifted her gaze to the immobile giant where Aether was battling Jose Porla, then her form flickered. Cobra sighed looking down at herself. "I guess I can't use Projection for very long." As proof of that statement the projection vanished into thin air.

"Mages of Fairy Tail!" Sergeant Hunter yelled making sure to get everyone's attention. "The Magic Council has set up a temporary command post with medics. If you are wounded they will heal you." Collectively the Fairy Tail mages exchanged glances before shuffling towards the front area of Fairy Tail.

Another explosion rocked the castle giant shaking the ground. Purple beams of energy lanced out from the middle of the giant slicing off the other arm, causing that to fall into the sea. A stray blast of magic came dangerously close to Raz and the others, taking out the back section of the building, collapsing the battered structure to the ground.

"What about Aether?" Gwen asked looking at the castle nervously. She could feel the radiating power coming from there. Two sources of incredible magic energy clashing violently.

Raz sighed. "She is on her own." The lizardlisk noted sadly.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Damn it!" I growled deflecting another ray of shadow with the Flame Empress Sword. That weapon and the counterpart in my other hand were dented and scratched with a few small pieces missing. I wasn't any better with a dozen slices on my arms and legs from Jose's shadow beams. I had several punctures in my chest that missed anything major, but otherwise I wasn't too badly injured. The man himself was still cloaked in power, though I had made a dent in it. He was largely unharmed with a half a dozen small wounds that leaked blood at a pitiful rate. Jose had been deflecting my attacks with Knight and Gunner or simply blocking them completely.

"It is a shame that I am going to kill you." Jose commented waving a open hand towards me in an arc. As before this action caused small beams of shadow to spring forth from near his fee to impale a target or targets. Once more I used my sword skills to slice the beams to ribbons, stopping them from hitting me. "You are a special, having survived repeated hits from Dark Pulse. And I sense a pool of power within you yet to be tapped."

"What are you talking about?" I asked charging at him slashing both weapons down onto him. He held up his arm to block my attack, keeping the blades from cutting him with concentrated magic. Then I saw his other hand briefly snap. An explosion consumed my vision and launched me back. I rolled for a time on the floor and used that momentum to get back onto my feet. My weapons were broken with pieces of them scattered around and the armor I had on was broken, pieces falling away. The bastard had done his explosion spell point blank so that it would break my weapons and armor. With a grunt I spat out some blood onto the floor and changed gear. The broken armor and weapon fragments glowed gold then vanished back to their respective dimensional pockets.

The castle shook with tremors from somewhere else. Sensing around the only fool crazy enough to be here with me fighting a Wizard Saint was Natsu. From the feel of it the Dragonslayer had taken down the earth mage Sol and another. I felt a sense of relief from tracking as he moved to Lucy and her brother Michael. Then he made his way out of the castle with them close behind.

"The Dragon sure makes a mess of things." Jose commented making me raise an eyebrow.

Make a mess of things? Aren't we doing that now? And last I know Natsu hasn't destroyed entire towns as many times as I have. "He does." I supplied as the gold glow around me stopped to show the Purgatory Armor, a midnight black suit of armor with spikes in various places. "The dragon has reclaimed your bargaining chips. We have bested you." Jose closed his hands tightly into fists making his arms tremble. The intensity of magic around him skyrocketed as did the fury I sensed. "Phantom Lord is weaker than Fairy Tail because power isn't everything."

"SILENCE!" Jose roared focusing magic into an orb between his hands. A few seconds later a blast of shadow raced for me. A moment later I donned the Adamantine Armor and conjured up a Void Barrier to protect myself. The beam ripped through the barrier as if it was wet paper and shattered my armor. The force of impact sent me flying into the outer wall spewing up a lot of blood.

Once I hit the floor I started coughing, trying to get the blood out of my throat. For some time I coughed up blood then stopped barely feeling half my body. That isn't a good sign. I got up slowly feeling the air around me rumble with power. My right arm hung limply with a section of it missing from mid forearm. Bone protruded out at definitely broken angles and my shoulder felt out of place. My chest was covered in a magic burn and two ribs poked through flesh. Both legs had taken some damage with my right one having a broken ankle, though nothing I hadn't fought on before. The left one sported a few burns and the slices from earlier. Overall that damn spell had done a number on me even with protection.

"Now..." Jose's voiced echoed from across the room. "I will crush you to death." He finished with venom. It was then I felt something snake around my body. I hissed in pain before shadows came into my vision. That held a twisted face barely recognizable as a skull and radiated Jose's magic. Ignoring my injuries I tried to break out of the hold, only for it to get tighter. Some of the shadow constricted around my ribs forcing a broken rib into a lung. I coughed up some more blood from that and stopped moving. "The more you struggle the tighter my Binding Ghosts get." Jose explained laughing manically.

Struggling makes the ghosts embrace get tighter? Knowing him though that probably happens over time as well. What would happen if the shadows were purged all at once? It was worth a shot to try and burn them off me. "Nice name for this spell." I grunted making Jose raise an eyebrow. "I wonder if it can withstand this?" I grinned calling forth power once again to encase my form. " ** **Void Demon's Inferno!"**** I called conjuring raging Void Fire on my form.

Jose jumped back barely avoiding to have a tendril of flames from touching his hands. "What is this!?" He stared wide eyed at me as the Void Fire around my body consumed his Binding Ghosts and started heating the stone at my feet.

Once my feet were on the ground I dismissed the remains of the Adamaintine Armor and switching for a pair of black jeans and a gray tube top. I couldn't help but laugh darkly at his stunned, almost comical expression. "This is the special property of void energy!" I supplied letting my grin become feral, showing a fang. I exuded more power extending the void fire around me in a circle. "It destroys and consumes all!" I paused reaching into myself for the well of power Jose had mentioned. I knew it was there but I never tapped into it, until now. I felt resistance to pulling for the power I wanted. Kinda like trying to open a tightly sealed jar or spinning wheel of a rusted valve. With some mental effort I felt something change, or maybe snap. Then power rushed from it, making me glow violet. " ** **Void Demon's Halberd."**** I spoke conjuring a halberd in my left hand made from pure Void Energy.

Finally he regained some measure of composure, favoring annoyance over shock. Again he held his hands together focusing magic. " ** **Dead-"****

I threw the halberd forcing Jose to either get hit or doge it. He chose to dodge it narrowly avoiding having it stab into his right leg. For a moment the halberd was stuck in the ground, then it exploded. The blast tore apart stone with ease and ate away at the Wizard Saint. The man was tossed to the side screaming in agony. Most of his right side had been eaten away leaving the smell of burnt flesh in their air. A lot of the clothing that had been on his right side was missing showing charred flesh to the world.

I changed my hand to a blade and cut off my right arm at the shoulder then crouched. I held my good arm out from me ready to throw a disc of sorts. I gathered and focused the power I could into my left hand. It wasn't long before a ball of compressed energy formed under my palm. Around that a buzz saw formed and grew in size. My vision held a faint violet tint to the corners of it while I watched Jose scream. Another few minutes passed as I felt a wind on my arm from the rotating blade. I glanced at my hand to see an orb about the size of a softball surrounded by a large rotating buzz saw. What I had done reminded me a bit of the Rasenshuriken from Naruto, though not quite the same shape.

The rotating buzz saw gave off a deep whine finally making Jose focus on me. Desperate rage shined in his eyes while his magical power began to focus to his hands.

"Time to die." I hissed flinging the disc in my hand forward in a flat arc. My spell ripped apart whatever stone was under it as it traveled towards Jose.

" ** **Dead Wave!"**** Jose roared unleashing the charged spell at me, which was in the path of my own spell. The beam of shadows hit my spell but it was cut into for a few moments. After that it expanded quickly with buzzer blades chaotically rotating around the orb slicing everything to ribbons. It stayed as an expanded orb of violet energy then exploded.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"The magic I've been sensing has stopped." Lucy noted as bandages were wrapped around her arms and wrists. Besides some cuts there bruises covered a good portion of her body, and Michael sported similar ones.

"Then the fight is about to end." Makarov commented walking to the side of the ruined Fairy Tail guild hall. He stopped once Phantom Lord's head quarters was visible. Behind him stood team Natsu with Raz and Sergeant Hunter. The old Wizard Saint kept his eyes glued to the castle. Two surges of magic power erupted from the castle then the center of it blew outwards. From that he could see a figure fall into the ocean. Then a massive expanding orb consumed the castle in bright violet light. The spell sent out fierce winds that reached them without trouble.

"What was that?!" Lucy cried pointing at the explosion of magic that stopped at the beach then slowly dissipated along with the wind it had generated. Little more than scorched scraps of metal rained down into the waters with part of the legs barely visible.

"A spell I never thought I'd see again." Makarov commented with wide eyes. Shaking his head the guildmaster composed himself. "It is called 'Supernova' and is one of the more destructive abilities Void Demons have. However that one was incomplete."

"Its over." Hunter said with a relieved sigh. __That was incomplete?__ the Rune Knight thought. __I don't want to know what a complete Supernova spell would do, if an incomplete one can cause this much damage.__

Erza raced towards the sea leaving behind her guild mates. The S-class mage slowed down upon reaching the waters. "Its warm!" The redhead noted surprised. Surveying the waters steam rose up from dozens upon dozens of charred metal peices. "Aether!" She called getting silence in reply. With a huff Erza waded into the water until it was at chest level. __Please be alive!__ The mage prayed in her head. For several minutes she searched the debris ridden water then caught sight of crimson colored hair. As fast as she could the half demon made her way to the mess of crimson.

In the water face down was Aether Wade covered in countless slices and missing limbs once again, an arm and one leg. Erza turned her over allowing the demon to breath air again, as well as cough out water. Titania shook her head and picked up her love before heading to the shore. Through focused eyes she spotted team Natsu on the beach watching her. Erza ignored them and went to the tents the Magic Council had set up.

Three rows of same size tents lined the area in front of Fairy Tail where dozens of mages of Phantom Lord were under guard. Another portion of those tents were occupied by wounded Fairy Tail members. One of the Rune Knights wearing purple robes motioned for Erza to follow him. The older male led her to a tent larger than the others.

"You can place Aether in here Miss Scarlet." The Rune Knight spoke opening the flap to enter, and holding it open for her. Inside the tent rested a bed big enough for Aether and another adult. Then next to that was another bed about the same size. "Aether can sleep in the first bed while the other one will be for her daughters."

Erza placed the Void Demon in her arms gently onto the first bed then looked at the bald Rune Knight. Overall the man was well built, fitting into his armor snugly. Jade eyes watched her in a relaxed manner and his skin held a brown tan. "Aether's daughters are coming here?"

The bald Rune Knight smiled with a nod. "Executioner Cobra should be here with them in a day or two."

Erza looked back down to the demon she loved. __I can't wait to meet them.__ She mused in her head. "Is it alright if I sleep in here?"

He chuckled softly. "Of course." The Rune Knight said. "Do not hesitate to sleep here if you feel the need." He added then walked out of the tent. Erza yawned then in a flash her clothing was replaced with her Heart Kruez pajamas. She eagerly crawled into bed next to Aether making sure the demon and herself were partially covered by the blanket. Once that was done Erza draped an arm over Aether's chest closing her eyes.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Feeling something over me and the smell of blood I opened my eyes. What greeted them was the white of a tent above me. Looking down I saw a soft white blanket over me. I was in another tent of the Magic Council. Hopefully I killed that bastard of a guild master. Pushing that to the side I sat up turning to my right. In a blur something red came at me and lips connected with mine. I knew it was Erza and opened my mouth to her. She greedily thrust her tong inside to explore it. We kissed until the need for air made us separate.

"Its good to see you up." Erza said smiling brightly.

"Did I kill him?" I asked getting a nod from her. "How long was I out?"

"Four days." Erza supplied and backed up.

At least that had allowed me heal. "I'm sorry for not staying with you that night."

Erza tilted her head to the side as I got out of the bed to stand. "Why?"

I breathed in then let out a heavy sigh. "I had a nightmare and couldn't go back to sleep."

"I found a note about that when I woke up. What was it about?"

Glancing down I noted that I was without clothing and that my right arm was still missing from where I had cut it off. "It wasn't one of my usual ones." I said summoning clothing that was a pair of dark blue shorts and a black tank top. "The nightmare was about my daughters and Jellal."

"Jellal?!" Erza whispered in shock.

I nodded. "He killed two of my daughters and I stopped him from killing the third. However the two of us fought and eventually I saw something...attached to him."

Erza quickly looked around then composed herself. "Attached?" She asked sounding a little confused.

Hell I was still confused about that nightmare to a degree. "I saw a demon or something. I think that thing is possessing Jellal." Without warning my stomach rumbled loudly. Silence took hold of the tent for a few seconds then Erza and I laughed.

"Lets get you some food." Erza said chuckling as she took my left hand in her right. "I'm hungry as well." With that she led me out of the tent and to the guild hall that was in the process of being rebuilt. It was mostly support beams of wood and some level of stone for walls. The bar top had apparently been one of the first things rebuilt. Tables covered the floor of the guild hall with the members eating and or drinking. A number of Rune Knights were also in here.

"Good to see you up and about Commander." The bald Rune Knight, Jonah Evens, commented raising a mug in one hand as Erza and I passed him. He was one of the few senior Rune Knights among Yajima's forces. That granted him a high level of command, but any Executioner was higher ranked than him.

"Its good to be up." I replied. It still felt odd to be called "commander" but I was getting used to it. I glanced to Erza to see her raise an eyebrow. "Its what he and other Rune Knights call me since Executioners have higher rank than them."

"I see." Erza said right before we got to the bar. She sat down at one stool and I took the one to her right.

Mirajane quickly made her way over to us with two plates in her hands. One I could tell was a egg scramble with bits of sausage, mushrooms, and onions. She placed that one down in front of me then the other plate for Erza, which contained a slice of strawberry cake. I wasted little time digging into the food Mira made, eating the contents quickly.

"Do you always eat this fast Ather?" Mirajane asked making me pause to look at her.

I shrugged. "Yeah, though I'm not exactly sure why anymore." I answered honestly. At first it was because of the Tower. However I never really needed to eat fast since getting out...except for a few times with Executioner operations against Void's Saw. Erza hummed in happiness taking a bite of cake. Within the next few moments I scrapped off the plate and let Mira walk away with it.

"Aether!" Natsu's voice boomed from behind me. I turned to look at the Dragonslayer who had a number of bandages wrapped around his chest and arms. Other than those he looked normal. He came to a stop about a meter away or so then pointed at me. "Fight me!"

"Oh?" I commented as all eyes nearby looked to the pink haired Dragonslayer and me. Erza coughed a few times then looked to me before shifting her gaze to Natsu. "You aren't completely healed Flame Brain, nor am I." I said gesturing to my missing right arm.

Natsu stood flabbergasted then fire engulfed his right hand. He pulled back ready to punch making others back away from the oncoming chaos. I moved off the stool then popped my neck. " ** **Fire-**** "

I dashed forwards and kicked Natsu in the chest interrupting the Dragonslayer. The strike cracked the floor and sent him flying into Magnolia. I saw a giant splash a ways from the guild hall. I walked towards the front of the ruined building to wait for Natsu. Within a minute he came charging at me with a flaming left hook. I leaned out of the way of the attack dodging it. He followed up with a series of punches I weaved out of without any trouble. "There should be more to you than this."

" ** **Fire Dragon's Roar!"**** Natsu called exhaling a cloud of flames. In an instant the Flame Empress Armor covered my form, save for the right arm that I didn't have at the moment. " ** **Fire Dragon's Talon!**** " He followed up the breath attack with a sideways kick from his right foot.

I caught it in my hand stopping the attack entirely. Natsu looked at me shocked as I held his leg at the shin. I chuckled before lifting him off the ground and slamming him down into it. He hit the ground hard generating a small crater around the upper part of his body.

"Taking bets on who wins!" Someone shouted and I followed the line of people to Cana whom sat behind two buckets and a chalkboard. On the chalkboard was a series of marks and it was split down the middle. Natu's name was on one side wile the other had mine. Only three marks were present on his side and mine had a dozen or so. A gathering had formed around the area Natsu and I was sparring.

Groaning altered me to Natsu getting up. He staggered to his feet clearly dazed, but still wanting to fight. I smirked at that letting him get his breath. The Dragonslayer recovered quickly and charged at me. He jumped up with both fists ignited in flames.

" ** **Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"**** Natsu called as he fell towards me.

"Not gonna work~" I said in a sing song voice summoning a large flail into my hand. The weapon in question held some measure of gravity magic within, though I almost never use this weapon or the magic it has. The handle was one solid piece of thick steel while the ball was dark blue cobalt with short triangular spikes on it. I sung it upwards catching Natsu with the spiked ball. Needless to say the Dragonslayer screamed in a high pitch as his hands went to his crotch.

The crowd around me winced in sympathy for Natsu who landed on the ground and out of the fight. Once on the ground he rolled around a bit whining the entire time. A few people groaned causing me to look at Cana whom was grinning madly. It seemed a few people owed others some money.

"Did you have to hit him in the balls?" A familiar voice asked with a sigh. I turned to face towards the main street of Magnolia. The crowd broke apart to show Cobra and three children with her. In a flash I was back into the shorts and tank top before the children rushed to me, almost inhumanly fast. I knelt down just in time to have them latch onto me. I hugged them tightly as I felt tears fall onto bare skin.

"Mother..." One of the three spoke so quietly only I could hear it. It warmed my heart that they missed me this much. The three clinging to me were my daughters Rias, Ivy, and Zara. They looked just the same as in my dream oddly enough, though their green shirts were faded as well as the blue shorts they had. I stayed like that for a time until someone ruined the moment.

"Who are those brats?"

I looked up to give the speaker a dark glare. Elfman immediately put his hands up in surrender and took several shaking steps back.

"Those girls look a lot like Aether." Mirajane noted getting murmurs from those around me.

I stopped glaring at Elfman and sighed. I released my hug from the three kids as they let go of me. "Everyone..." I paused making sure the girls were facing the guild. "These are my daughters."

Silence dominated the area as everyone I could see bore some form of shocked expression. "EH!?" They collectively remarked.

* * *

I bet none of you suspected Aether would be a mother did ya? As a heads up I am adding in mythological creatures like the typical vampires and werewolves, plus others that will mostly be "Secondary Forms". Next chapter: Return to Nightmare


	8. Return to Nightmare

The next chapter is here! Some parts of this chapter tripped me up so it took a while. this by far is the longest chapter I have every typed up at 41,000 plus words for it. I do not intend on future chapters being as long as this one. The harem is now 44 in total and I am debating on including Kagura Mikazuchi or not to the harem. I will add her to that of you guys want, though there is quite a bit of time before that question of ya or nay regarding her needs to be answered. regarding the harem I feel the need to explain why the harem is so large... it's that size because I don't want to have tons of stories out (which I've already got for on my comp of both fan fiction and my own projects) so i put females that I like the appearance of and or their personality into one story.

Although two chapters in a row have lemons (this one and the previous) not every chapter will have them. But as I've mentioned before this story will contain a number of them where sex toys may be used. There is a list of restaurants in this chapter and I lay claim to all but one of them (as afar as names go). It's up to you guys to figure out which of them that is. Lastly I forgot to mention in the previous chapter how many fingers Aether has in her secondary form per hand. That number if four per hand (so sixteen fingers in total), I'll fix that when I get the chance. As always thanks for the favorites, reviews, and follows.

* * *

"They look so cute!" Erza and Mira squealed at the same time picking up Zara and Ivy in either of their arms. The girls didn't move being too surprised by the action then relaxed slowly. Both mages cooed at them ignoring everyone, absorbed in their own little worlds.

"They do." I agreed picking up Rias who clung to me. Out of curiosity I sensed for the magic of my daughters. The three of them had far more than I expected for their age. Their power felt comparable to Macao or around there and they were only children.

"Aether." Cobra said making me shift my attention to her. The Poison Dragonslayer came up to me with a bag in hand. "This is your payment for..." She paused glancing at Rias in my arm. "Taking down Jose Porla."

She held out the bag for me then realized I only had one arm, which was preoccupied. "How much?"

She grinned. "A big one: 60 million."

"Sixty million!?" Lucy screeched causing Rias to try and bury her head into my chest, and for the crowd to look at me.

I raised an eyebrow in silent question and Cobra nodded. "Since your opponent was not a normal one you got a larger than normal payment. Plus they want you to take a break from Executioner jobs for a bit."

"Was planning on it anyway." I said looking around to see the crowd break apart.

Cobra smirked. "Good." She said turning away from me. "I'll put this into your account." With that she disappeared in a flash of purple light.

"When did you have kids?" Lucy commented having apparently calmed down from the shock of a 60 million jewel payment. "I don't remember reading about it in Sorcerer Magazine ."

"That's because they didn't know about it." I replied strangely feeling the need for something sweet to eat. "Erza, Mira!" I called snapping the two women out of their worlds to look at me, and the girls they held. "You two want to come with me for ice cream?" The two of them looked at each other then me nodding. My daughters perked up looking between each other then me.

"Ice cream!" They cheered at the same time. This caused me to smile and Mira to giggle.

"Off we go then!" I said cheerfully leading the way into Magnolia. I stopped sensing a familiar presence trying to hide behind a wall. Sure enough Juvia was behind a section of wall poking her head around it to look at someone. Following her gaze roughly led my eyes to Natsu and Gray who were butting heads. I had only nailed Natsu in the balls a few minutes ago and he's got the strength to argue with Gray? Good grief.

"She wasn't even trying and beat you." Gray commented as he glared at Natsu. "Talk about pathetic."

A vein popped on Natsu's forehead. "Then why don't you fight her Ice Princess!" He growled.

Gray's glare intensified as he narrowed his eyes. "Cause I'm not the idiot with a death wish!" That was the straw as Natsu threw a punch at Gray whom caught it. I sighed watching them before an idea pop into my head.

"I'm going to put you down Rias." I told her as I knelt down.

"Okay." She said letting go of me to stand.

I grinned darkly as I stood up walking over to the two fighting idiots. Once a few feet from them I spoke doing my best to imitate Erza's voice. "Are you two fighting?"

"NO!" They spoke in unison hugging each other as if they hadn't been fighting a moment before. Their skin was pale and covered in sweat. "We-we're b-best f-friends!" They said with trembling voices as they grasped the other's hand in a handshake.

I snickered at them trying to hold in my laughter. They turned around to see it was me and I lost it. They both bore shocked comical expressions making me fall to the ground laughing hard. I was like that for a minute or so before stopping for the most part.

"That wasn't funny!" Natsu groaned pointing a shaking finger at me. He wasn't as pale as earlier though he was still quite fearful looking. "I thought you were Erza!" Gray on the other hand didn't move or speak from his shocked position.

I chuckled straightening up. "Just remember she isn't the only one you have to watch out for." I said turning to walk back to Rias. I heard a thud as the little girl held up a hand for me to grab. It wasn't long before we passed by Juvia's hiding spot that Gray had missed. Though he did have good reason not to notice it. "Want to come with us for ice cream Juvia?"

"Kyaa!" Juvia squealed hiding behind the stone wall in record time. Her robes were a little soot stained and her blue hair was somewhat ruffled as well. She turned calming down when she saw it was me. "You scared Juvia!"

I shook my head. "Didn't mean to. How are you feeling?" I said making Juvia glance at herself then to the child to my left. "I used Galefury on you, so hopefully you weren't too hurt. By the way this is Rias."

"Juvia is a little sore, but otherwise fine." She replied keeping her gaze on Rias. "Is she one of your daughters?" I nodded. With a light sparkle in her eyes Juvia smiled and waved at Rias. "Hello."

Rias just watched Juvia for a moment then waved back. "Hi." She said.

"Juvia will go with you for ice cream." Juvia said though I suspected her reason for doing so was to interact with my daughters. Regardless I smiled and led the way to where I sensed Erza and Mira. It didn't take long to reach the little ice cream shop they had stopped at. The place looked like a small family owned business with a little patio where My lover and Mira sat with Zara and Ivy. The four of them had ice cream bowls on the table.

From the pink color I could safely guess Erza had gotten strawberry flavor in a large bowl and Ivy had a smaller one next to it. Mira on the other hand had a bowl of mixed colors while Zara was holing an ice cream cone in her hands with white scoops. Once again I picked up Rias with one arm, harder than it seems, and walked up to a menu that listed a bunch of different flavors of ice cream.

"Welcome to my ice cream parlor." A gray haired male spoke from his spot behind the counter. The man looked to be in his sixties or something like that with a wiry build. The blue shirt over his chest was faded by several shades while his brown eyes danced between me and Rias. Surprise lit up in his face shortly after. "If it isn't War Maiden!" He remarked before a smile worked its way onto his lips. "What flavor would you and your daughter like?"

I resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow. Just from a short time this man knew that Rias was my daughter? I guess it made sense because the three of them do resemble me quite a bit. I looked to Rias to see her staring at the menu. "What do you want sweetheart?"

I moved so she could see the menu better while Rias put a hand on her chin. She hummed in thought then pointed. "That one."

"Lime and cookie dough, huh?" I read off the name of the flavor. That was certainly an interesting choice. I scanned it for my choice finding it quickly. "I'll have the pumpkin spice one."

"Those will be right up!" The old man commented getting two bowls. In the larger of the two he put in ice cream that had the coloration of a typical pumpkin pie and the smaller one held Rias' choice of lime and cookie dough. The man was about to pick up the bowls when his eyes went wide and he pointed. "What happened to your arm?"

I glanced at it then back to him. "I cut it off, though it hasn't started growing back yet."

"Growing back?" He repeated grabbed the bowls, but didn't lift them. "You're a Void Demon."

I raised an eyebrow this time. "Is that a problem?"

The ice cream parlor owner shook his head. "No, no." He spoke quickly then held up the two bowls. "I just haven't seen one before."

"Juvia will get those for you." Juvia said making her presence known by accepting the bowls, since my only arm was occupied. The Rainwoman placed both bowls on the same table that Mira and Erza sat at. Once there I set Rias down onto the bench to my left. Just after sitting down Juvia placed a spoon into our bowls.

"Thanks." I said taking a bite of the ice cream. It was flavored just like a very good pumpkin pie, my favorite kind. I hummed in appreciation while Erza gave me a raised eyebrow. "Pumpkin pie is my favorite kind of pie."

"I see." Erza said then fed another spoonful of ice cream to Ivy who appeared quite pleased at the taste. "Ivy likes strawberries, just like me." A bright smile was on her face as she said that.

"Its good!" Ivy chirped with a smile on her face as well. She was the middle child of the three, born between Rias and Zara. She sat on the redhead's lap with her dirty cloths that had a few tears and holes. What had caused those? I turned to look at Rias whom had yet to touch her ice cream. "Something wrong Rias?"

Her silver eyes turned to me for a few seconds then the bowl, before settling on me. "Mother...can you feed me?" She said slowly.

I ate a spoonful of ice cream then stuck it back into my bowl. "Of course." Rias' face brightened at that. I took the spoon of her bowl and scooped out a section. "Open up." I said as she opened her mouth to eat it. For some time we were all like that feeding ice cream to three little girls. Once the bowl Rias had was empty I turned to face Juvia whom sat to my right. "Do you have an interest Juvia? I saw you looking at someone earlier."

The Rainwoman's face turned beat red instantly. "I-in-interest?" She stuttered hiding her face behind her hands. "J-Juvia doesn't k-know what you are talking about!"

"Oh?" I commented with a sly grin. "So you do have an interest. Who is he?" At this steam started coming off of her head. I laughed before going back to eating my order of ice cream. Not long after that I finished my bowl as did Erza and Mira. I payed for the hole thing before we left heading back towards the guild. We walked at the pace my daughters had, which was a little faster than it would normally be for a child about five or so.

"What are we going to do with them?" Erza asked as she held my hand while Juvia and Mira stood on the other side of me. "They need to burn all that energy somehow."

That was a good point. "Girls." I said making my daughters stop to look at me. "What do you three want to do next?" There was a pause as the three of them looked to the ground.

"Play tag!" Zara said raising a hand into the air.

"I want to see magic." Ivy said as she looked at Erza.

"I wanna play tag too!" Rias said cheerfully.

I nodded at their replies. Two of them wanted to run around while Ivy at least wanted to see magic of some kind. Those were easy requests to fulfill for the three of them. "What magic do you want to see Ivy?" I asked. Her short hair barely reached her shoulders and was largely red with some blue that was at the edges.

"Fairy Tail!" Was the reply earning a chuckle from Erza and I.

"All of us? Or a few?" Erza asked bringing Ivy's attention to her.

She furrowed her brow a little then smiled. "All."

"Well then..." I paused seeing that the street back to the ruins of Fairy Tail was oddly devoid of foot traffic. "See the pile of rocks at the end of this street?" I said with Erza pointing for me. They followed the line of her finger before nodding. "That rock pile is Fairy Tail. You guys can run there." The moment I finished speaking three blurs raced down the street.

"They're fast!" Mira and Juvia commented with a gasp.

Shaking my head I replied. "They take a lot after me."

Erza tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

I smiled thinking back to happy memories, a time before the Tower of Heaven. "When I was five or so I could deck a fully grown human and shape shift. I could use a portion of my Voidslayer magic and was inhumanly fast for that age."

Mira turned her head to me. "You can shape shift?"

"Yeah." I nodded. Not long after the girls reached us then raced down the street to Fairy Tail again with Juvia following behind them. "Most Void Demons can do that. I didn't for a long time because I was trying to disguise myself as human, or partly human."

"Can you give us a demonstration?" Erza said gesturing forwards with an arm.

"First though..." I trailed off focusing power to my right shoulder. Within moments a violet glow came from there taking the form of a new arm. I let go of Erza's hand taking a few steps a head then shape shifted into a giant wolf. "Climb on." I said crouching before feeling hands grab onto fur to pull themselves up onto my back. I began trotting down the street before hearing one of the two giggle.

"Are you limited to animals or can you take on any form?" Mira asked using both hands to hold onto patches of fur. I could feel one of Erza's armored hands holding fur while the other petted my shoulder.

"Pretty much any form I can think of." I supplied before charging full tilt without warning. Both women on my back let out a surprised "kyaa" but otherwise sounded happy. The guild approached fast so I slid to a stop just past the frame for the front doors of the guild. Erza and Mirajane slid off my back onto solid ground and I changed back to human form. It was then I turned my attention to the sound of screaming.

"SAVE ME!" Happy screamed as he flew around trying to shake off Rias, Zara, and Ivy. They seemed intent on capturing him as they gave chase. Natsu for his part simply pointed and laughed at his friend's predicament.

 _There is going to be payback for that Natsu._ I thought glad my daughters were having fun, even if it was at Happy's expense. Rias finally caught the Exceed by the tail and pulled him to her. She clutched the fuzzball to her chest for almost a minute then passed him to Zara. She held him more gently then Rias did holding Happy much like an actual cat. It didn't last long though before she threw Happy towards to Ivy.

"Oops!" Zara spoke as she paused in a throw position with one arm out stretched. She had missed her intended target, nailing Natsu in the head. The Dragonslayer went flat on his back twitching. Meanwhile Happy was out cold mumbling something about fish.

"Was she really aiming for Ivy, or Natsu?" Erza commented next to me shaking her head.

Ivy looked between Zara and Natsu then started laughing. This quickly caught the attention of Rias. She saw the source of entertainment then joined in laughing with Ivy, then Zara went along with it. That finally snapped Natsu from his stupor.

He sat up quickly with a growl. "What the hell did you throw at me Ice Stripper!?"

The girls stopped laughing at once then looked to me puzzled with a tilt of their heads. I face palmed. Leave it to Natsu to think Gray is the only one who will attack him with thrown objects or creatures. Now I'm going to have to explain his choice of words to them later.

"I didn't throw anything at you Match Stick!" Gray retorted moving to get in Natsu's face.

The two then got into another fist fight. I let them go at it watching my daughters. The three of them had collected together and looked interested. It wasn't long before magic entered the fray. At first the three of them were awed with sparkles in their in their eyes. Then a burst of ice nearly hit one of them, whizzing by Ivy's head. I growled walking forwards before grabbing both idiots by the hair on their heads. Once I had that grip I slammed their heads together earning a loud groan as I let go. They looked at each other then saw me and paled as I glared darkly at them.

"Do not get into a fight using magic next to my daughters!" I hissed. Immediately the two got onto their hands and knees in deep apology. "At any rate the girls would like to see everyone's magic."

"The little ones want to see our magic?" Someone asked to the side making me turn to them. It was Makarov whom was dressed in robes as if he had come from a meeting. Given that there was still Rune Knights around Fairy Tail I wouldn't be surprised if that is the case.

"Ivy at least wants to see everyone's magic, though I'm sure the other two will as well once the show gets going." I supplied making him nod.

"Listen up brats!" Makarov shouted getting the guild's attention. "Aether's daughters want to see our magic, so lets get a show going!" With that Makarov told the guild to go to the beach behind the building and line up. From there he wanted each member to do a simple demonstration of their powers.

"Yay! Magic!" Ivy cheered happily as she sat in front of me in between her sisters on the sand of Fairy Tail's beach.

First up was Cana whom drank from a rum bottle before quickly hiding it. With a sheepish grin the brunette reached into her bag and pulled out magic cards. Tossing a few into the air she called forth a small flash of lightning, then a burst of fire from another card, and lastly a miniature rock slide.

"Awesome!" Zara and Rias said at the same time. They were as captivated by the show of magic from a Fairy Tail mage as Ivy was.

Next was Max dressed in gray pants and a light blue t-shirt. He knelt down to place a hand on the sand. " **Dust Devil."** Max said making sand twist into a small tornado for a few seconds then it dispersed. Once that vanished Max went off to the side to join Cana where Warren also stood. Since that human's magic wasn't a visual one like most of us he had stayed out of the line up for the "magic show".

Following Max was surprisingly Juvia. I raised an eyebrow at this only getting a slight tilt of the head as a reply. Following that led my eyes to Gray whom stood behind Lisanna and in front of Elfman. So the Rainwoman's interest was for Gray? I'll have to tease her about it later.

 **"Water Nebula."** Juvia spoke calling forth two twisting spires of water that went up for a bit before falling down as sprinkles. In the sunlight this formed a small rainbow, causing my girls to "aww" at it. All three of them giggled when the water fell onto them and I let a smile come to my lips. I could tell the warmth of that water came from her friendship with me that had stayed strong from the moment we forged it. Juvia got hugs from my daughters then walked over to stand next to me.

"So you have a thing for the ice mage?" I asked as she got to me. Her face lit up red at the mention of Gray. "Did he save you or something? Or do you just find him that irresistible?"

Juvia covered her crimson face with her hands. "Juvia was saved by him during the battle from Void's Saw cultists after I was attacked by you." She answered.

"I see." I commented looking back to the line up. Levy walked up before waving her hands in the air. What followed them was words made of their elements, such as fire made of fire and earth made of earth.

"So pretty." Ivy said making Levy blush and smile at the comment.

"Thanks." Levy said before giving the girls a hug each and walking off.

"What in blazes is going on here?" A voice asked followed by the sloshing of sand from large feet. I glanced to my right past Erza seeing Raz stop to look over the line of mages.

"A magic show for my girls." I answered gesturing to the three in front of me.

Raz smiled. "That explains this gathering."

I turned my attention back to the others as the green haired marksmen of Fairy Tail stepped forwards. As usual the woman had on a cowboy hat with a polka dotted scarf around her neck. On her body was a strapless one piece dress that was blue with swirling motifs. Either end of the dress contained a band of white and her feet were covered by reddish brown boots. She was quite toned with an athletic build and a large chest, just not the size of mine or Mira's.

Bisca scratched the side of her head sheepishly. "I'm sorry girls, but your mother and I share the same magic."

Ivy, Zara, and Rias turned around to me. "The same?" They said in unison.

"Bisca's magic is Gunner which is one of the magics I use." I answered summoning a rifle into the air. It was one of my bolt action weapons with a lot of firepower, but lacking in rate of fire. "This is an example of what Gunner magic can summon." Then I grabbed the rifle and aimed it at the water. **"Thunder Bullets."** I said then fired a single shot. The bullet whizzed through the air to the water where it sparked into a big storm due to the water then faded.

"Wow..." They trailed off in sync watching the waters where the bullet had hit.

With that I dismissed the weapon causing it to vanish in gold light. "Is there another that uses Gunner here?"

"I do." A male answered. Then one of the line up step forwards. He was shorter than me by a little bit with black hair that obscured the right side of his face, while the other one showed. That eye was black while a coat resembling a poncho was over his form. Under that coat was a dark red shirt and torn brown pants. Boots sank a little into the sand weighed down slightly more on the right side then left.

"Feel free to step aside since I know your magic." I said getting a nod from him. He wet off to stand next to Max and they began talking quietly. After that the slide show of magic went by pretty quick. Lisanna had transformed into a cat girl with a tail that moved making the girls laugh and touch it. That had the unexpected reaction of tickling the young human causing said girl to blush hard and squeal. Even with that embarrassment she had given them a hug like the other females.

Gray followed up whom I hit on the head with for being only in his boxers. Once Gray had on pants he showed off his Ice-Make magic by conjuring three giant roses of ice. My girls begged to have one each forcing Gray to make three more that were smaller so they could have one for the day. Elfman went after him transforming into a monstrous beast that was taller than us, kinda like a yeti.

Surprisingly this didn't scare my girls, but interested them instead. He had knelt down to let them touch the horns before drawing back to shift to human form. Then it was Macao and Wakaba's turn. They went at the same time showing off a ball of purple colored flames and a clone of smoke. Mira then walked to the front of the group and changed into her standard Satan Soul.

"So pretty!" They cheered racing over to hug Mira ignoring the fact she looked like a demon. Mira knelt down to hug them with a smile. Next she stood up then held her hands together forming a small ball of black magic. Once it formed she held her hands towards the ocean carving a path through the water with the beam the orb produced. With that Mira shifted back to human form and went to stand with her siblings. Natsu went next roaring with fire from his mouth into the sky.

"Watch this." Raz commented before exhaling a cloud of fire at Natsu. My girls gasped as it hit the pinkette. Then their jaws dropped as he ate the fire before releasing a dragon roar to the water on my right. There was a few more who would go, but one was attempting to sneak away.

With a grin I caught the back Gajeel's shirt collar. "Not getting out of this one Metal-head." I said throwing him with one arm to where the others had demonstrated their magic. He sailed over my girls and landed on his ass with a muffled thud.

"You looking for a fight?" He growled at me transforming one arm into a metal sword in a crouched position.

"Do you want to push your luck?" I smiled sweetly at the Dragonslayer. That deflated him instantly so Gajeel turned his arm back to normal before doing his breath attack to the ocean. The poor beach was torn to bits from the metal shards of his roar. At this time I turned to Erza whom had been standing next to me on my right.

She walked in front of the girls before looking to me. "Like Bisca, Aether and I share the same magic." Erza said before her body glowed gold for a few seconds. After that she was dressed in Heaven's Wheel Armor, and in her hands were two simple swords. All three of my girls gasped looking completely entranced by Erza.

"She's an angel!" Zara commented pointing at her. The redhead blushed hard looking away from the girls causing them to giggle. She recovered quickly though with a smile on her face. Then she let go of her two weapons making them vanish in a flash of gold. With the opening of her hands a dozen swords materialized floating above her in a half circle.

"This is one of my many armors and some of my many weapons." Erza explained before the girls went over and hugged her legs at the same time. Erza happily knelt down to hug them back. She held them longer than the others before letting go.

"There is only two more before Master shows some of his magic, assuming the old man isn't drunk as a skunk." Slyvia commented pointing to something behind me. Turning around I saw Cana and Makarov drinking.

"What are they doing?" Rias asked causing me to glance at her. She held a finger pointed at the two individuals.

I sighed shaking my head. I guess they had already forgotten that little kids were present, or simply didn't care at this point. "They are drinking something for adults only." I explained. Rias tilted her head to the side for a moment or two then nodded. "The second to last mage is about to show you her magic." With that the three turned back to Sylvia whom was dressed in a dark green long sleeve shirt and blue jeans that clung nicely to her form.

"I have similar magic to Aether." Sylvia said clapping her hands together. That action caused a mass of void energy to form in the air before it took the shape of an owl hovering out of arms reach of the girls.

"In-in-incredable." Zara said having trouble with the word she wanted.

I chuckled. "Incredible." I supplied before she turned to me and nodded. After a few seconds the void conjured owl dispersed. I turned to see how Makarov was doing, and he was plastered. He had a serious bit of red on his face not to mention he wasn't sitting straight. The little human kept leaning to one side then the other as he sat in the sand. At least it would be a short fall for him when it happens.

I turned back as Lucy stepped forwards at that moment and snatched a key from her belt. "I'm a Celesital mage." She said making my girls tilt their heads confused. Lucy moved her key downwards speaking. **"Open: Gate of the Maiden!"** In a flash of light the celestial spirit Virgo appeared next to her, dressed in a maid outfit.

"Pretty lady." Ivy spoke making Virgo smile and hug the girls.

"What do you do?" Rias asked as Virgo stood back up.

The celestial spirit held her hands together in front of her body. "I am able to dig holes, and I assist the Princess whenever she needs it." Virgo explained gesturing to Lucy.

The girls gasped collectively. "Are you a princess?" Zara asked.

Lucy shook her hands with open palms. "No, no!" She answered. "That is just what Virgo calls me." With that Virgo vanished in a flash of light, going back to the celestial spirit world.

Without warning an armored hand entwined fingers with mine. I smiled as Erza squeezed my hand. "Would you be willing to move your things into Fairy Hills today?"

I looked at her to see some measure of seriousness. "Want to have me closer at all times?" I asked getting a nod in reply. I leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Of course. Though I will need help moving my things."

A sly grin worked its way to her face. "I know just who to ask." She let go of my hand walking over to Lucy, Natsu, and Gray. "Team Natsu!" Erza paused making sure the three of them were listen to her. "We are going to help Aether move into Fairy Hills, now."

"Now?" Lucy whined but hung her head as Erza gave her a look.

Gray paled a little. "You do know that males aren't allowed there, right?"

"I'm aware of that. All I want the guys to do is place the boxes into the lobby." I said making him face me. "From there I can get it to Erza's room." The ice mage breathed a sigh of relief.

"You're helping out too Gajeel." Raz spoke. I turned towards the guild building to see the lizardlisk holding the Dragonslayer in one paw off the ground.

"What the hell Raz?!" Gajeel growled trying to break free.

"Quit your complaining." I said making him look to me over his shoulder. "I'll give you some magical scrap metal later if you help out."

Gajeel stayed quiet for a minute. "Okay." He grumbled.

I grinned knowing I had won him over with the offer of special food. "My house is in Oak Town so it isn't that far of a walk." With that Team Natsu, Gajeel, Raz, and I walked to my house. During that I had placed my daughters onto Raz's back which they enjoyed from the laughter I heard. After getting there they helped me pack my stuff which took a bit, since I hadn't already packed. Gray and Natsu nearly got into a fight but I glared at them which made the boys behave along with Gajeel. The whole process took most of the remaining day so it was dark by the time all my stuff was sitting in the lobby of Fairy Hills.

"Would you like me to carry some of this to Erza's room?" Lucy asked as she was the last one standing from the group. The guys had gone to their respective homes or the guild's temp housing that the Rune Knights had set up under my orders.

"That would be awesome Lucy." I said with a nod. Glancing to the couch near the front door Ivy, Zara, and Rias were sound asleep. They had long since burned through the energy the ice cream provided them. I picked up two of the heavier boxes, Lucy grabbed one, then Erza grabbed another leaving three more on the floor. She and I followed Erza up to her room and entered. Erza placed the box she held next to the dresser then took the one Lucy held.

The celestial mage gasped with a hand over her mouth. "This is Erza's room!?" She said clearly surprised.

"Yes." Erza answered. "It also has four other rooms connected to this one."

I placed my two boxes near the door by my bags of new cloths. "The extra rooms gives Erza space to put armor or weapons that don't fit into her dimensional pockets, but her rent is 500,000 a month."

"Amazing..." Lucy trailed off.

It was a nice place for sure. "Erza and I can get the remaining boxes Lucy."

"Okay." Lucy said turning to leave before pausing at the door. "See you two tomorrow." With that she left.

The two of us made another trip for the boxes placing them into the first spare room for armor. The second trip to the lobby was to get my daughters whom were still asleep. Fortunately there was an unused room with a large bed in it across the hall from Erza's main room. After tucking in the three of them I kissed each on the forehead and exited the room quietly.

"See?" Erza commented as she opened the door to our room.

I raised an eyebrow at her and dismissed my cloths. "See what?"

She walked to me and placed both hands onto my shoulders. There was a gentle light in her eyes. "You've doubted your ability to be a parent, but today you have proven more than able to be a one."

My eyes widened in realization before I nodded. "You're right." Erza placed a quick kiss on my lips then we broke apart to organize my stuff. Opening two of the boxes in the room Erza and I reassembled my dresser sticking it opposite of hers and filling it up. In the first spare room with armor and weapons stands I conjured up a door frame which led to the portal stone I use in the Void. Across from it I made another one which was linked to the place where I was training her.

She plopped down onto the bed with a content sigh. "Now you've moved in with me."

I got into the bed next to her and pulled the covers over us. "What form should I have with you? And when should I show the guild?"

Erza smiled as we faced each other. "As I said before, be in whatever form you are comfortable in." I nodded then a smile worked its way to her lips. "Though I do greatly enjoy what you can do with four hands and a tail."

I chuckled changing forms in a moment. "I'm thrilled you enjoy that." I paused to kiss her. She eagerly kissed me back until the need for air separated us. "This will be a form for your eyes only...for now." She intertwined her fingers with those on two of my hands. I felt Erza place her head on my chest before I closed my eyes.

Light and warmth fell onto my face feeling nice while something roamed on my body. I felt pressure somewhere feeling good. There was a pause before I felt pressure again with a slow moan coming out of my mouth. I finally opened my eyes to see sunlight pouring into Erza's room from the open window. The sexy redhead was positioned over me using one hand and her legs. One arm was not holding her up and went somewhere south.

She looked at me with a seductive smile. "Good morning, love." Then I saw her arm shift and realized where I had been feeling that pressure.

"Morning." I said as Erza moved her fingers over my lower lips slowly. Another moan came out slowly. I smirked as she stopped before sliding a long finger into me. "I could get used to this." Her finger went in with little resistance then Erza leaned in capturing my lips with hers. I eagerly kissed her back initiating a tong battle. At that moment Erza began moving her hand slowly.

We separated about a minute or so later and I started to move with her hand before my ears flicked to the side picking up a thud and a door opening. The two of us looked at the bedroom door and groaned at the same time. Out in the hall I sensed my daughters with one of them on the floor while the other two were standing.

Erza pouted removing her finger then sucking it clean. "We'll have to continue this another time."

"Agreed." I said with a nod only now realizing she was naked as well. "How did you sleep?"

Erza smiled radiantly. "Best sleep of my life. You?"

"Ditto." I said then shifted into human form.

Several knocks sounded from the door to Erza's room. "We're hungry mother." I heard Rias say through the door.

"I'll make you girls breakfast shortly." I said loud enough for them to hear. Three cheers followed before the sound of running echoed from the hallway. I chuckled at their enthusiasm, then turned my attention to Erza.

Erza had a somewhat bemused look on her face. "You can cook?"

I stuck my tong out at her. "Of course." She giggled at that, but thoughts to my latest nightmare took away the grin I had.

Her face became serious as her brown orbs looked into my silver ones. "What's wrong?"

I closed my eyes shaking my head. "I have the feeling that Jellal is going to be coming for one of us soon."

"How do you know?"

I shrugged. "A gut feeling. Besides..." I trailed off looking to the open window. "I kind of know he will."

She hummed in thought as I returned my gaze to her. "Do you know which one of us he will target?" I shook my head no. "For some reason seem to know things in advance..." Erza sat up putting a hand on her chin. "Is that why were you mostly calm in the Tower?"

I sat up getting out of the bed to stretch my arms over my head. Next I popped my neck then turned to face her. "I've never told anyone this, but I have some knowledge of the future."

"How?" She said tilting her head to the side slightly.

"I can't see glimpses into time as Ultear can." I paused to yawn. "However I have memories of a past life. Form that life there was a story about this world."

"Did that let you know a head of time what would happen in the Tower?"

I hung my head. "Yes." I answered gripping my arms with my hands. "But experiencing that kind of thing...The torture...The pit fights that were not part of the story from that life. It hurts..."

I felt hands placed onto my shoulders gently. "I know." Erza whispered.

"From those memories I know many people in this world. With that I have a rough idea of when things may happen, or have happened. For instance Natsu recruited Lucy into the guild after destroying half of Hargeon."

A surprised gasp left her mouth. "How do you know?"

I grinned as I watched her face recover composure. "That's what happened in the story, plus I heard about that incident from the Rune Knights." I untangled myself from Erza and went over to one of the packed boxes. Opening it up I drew out a large book complete with a metal cover and a lock on it. "I've noted down all that I remember of the series baring the name of the guild into this book. I have also been writing down the differences I've encountered or heard about."

"I see." Erza commented then in a flash of golden light was dressed in her typical attire. "Was Jellal evil in that story?"

"No." I said putting the large book back into the box. "He was being controlled by a dark mage through possession, kinda like what I think is going on with him now."

Erza's stomach rumbled making her blush a bit. "Don't laugh!" She pouted looking away.

I laughed a bit going for the door. "Let's not keep the girls waiting, shell we?" I said getting a nod from her. In the hallway I summoned the red summer dress Erza had picked out for me. I could already sense that the residents here were up and moving about, either leaving for the guild or in the kitchen. At the bottom of the stairs my daughters lined up.

"I'm hugrwy." Ivy said through a yawn.

"Me too." Rais and Zara said in unison.

"I'll be in the kitchen shortly, so wait for me there." I said getting three nods before they moved being just ahead of me and Erza. Within the next minute we reached the kitchen where Bisca stood making herself something to eat.

At the commotion of my daughters entering Bisca's eyes went to us and widened briefly. "That looks good on you Aether." She commented with a smile.

"Thanks." I said hearing Erza place Rias, Zara, and Ivy onto stools at the island. Quickly I went to one of the fridges looking for ingredients to use in breakfast. After a time I found what I wanted and got to work. I felt the eyes of Bisca on me as I made a breakfast for five people that was scrambled eggs containing an assortment of veggies and bits of meat. ten minutes later I portioned it out onto plates and gave them to my lover and daughters.

"This smells amazing." Erza commented before taking a bite. I watched her mull it over before a bright smile came onto her face. "Its really good!" With that she started eating faster. The girls followed suit voicing similar opinions, then I ate my portion of breakfast. Once that was over Erza and I cleaned up then left for the guild. More of the outer walls had been rebuilt than yesterday by a little bit, though the door was still missing.

"A lizard!" Rias shouted pointing at something. Quickly the small green form of Kurt charged towards the bar. The tiny lizardlisk climbed up it out of range of my daughters.

"That's a lizardlisk Rias." I corrected walking up to the bar with Erza to my right.

Rias looked at me confused tilting her head. "lizardlusk?"

"Lizardlisk." I said again slowly. Kurt saw me and walked over before I grabbed the reptile to hold him. Once in my hands the lizardlisk let out a pleased purr while I held him in the air. "A lizardlisk is a type of reptile with sex legs such as Kurt here." I said watching as her head moved seemingly counting Kurt's legs.

"Don't forget about me." Raz commented from the doorway making me up look at him.

I shook my head with a grin. "I was about to mention you." Then I noticed his eyes wonder my form. "What?"

Raz nodded. "You look great in that."

"Thanks." I muttered feeling a little heat on my cheeks. I turned to face the bar when a mug was put in front of each of us by Mira, followed by a slice of cake for Erza. I shook my head at her obsession with strawberry cake. I put Kurt back onto the bar then took a gulp of the tankard in front of me. It was blackberry cider and I hummed my appreciation of it.

"Aether." Erza said so I glanced at her. She held up one hand with a fork containing a bite of her precious cake while the other hand was under it. Without her saying more I turned and opened my mouth so she could feed me. As she did I saw Mira's smiling face.

"You're in a good mood." I noted before swallowing the bite of cake. It was damn good and had the texture that made me suspect that it was home made rather than bought from a general cake store.

The demon-take over mage nodded. "So are you." She countered.

"True." I supplied. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Erza get another fork full of cake and move it towards me. She fed me several more bites with a smile on her lips the whole time. "Got any plans Erza?"

"Just spending the day with you." She answered. "Have you given any thoughts to if you are going to be working solo or in a team?"

I took another gulp of cider thinking it over. Truthfully I hadn't thought that far ahead. If I was going to be working in a team I'd choose Erza or Gajeel with Raz in the mix naturally. THough I was easily powerful enough to work alone. "Not really." I shrugged. "When I was in Phantom I worked alone unless I wanted to work with Raz and or Gajeel."

"Why not join Team Natsu?" Erza offered.

I heard some strangled noises and looked over my shoulder to see Natsu and Gray white as a sheet, stunned. Lucy bore a shocked comical expression. "I'm game for that since you are on the team."

"We're doomed." Lucy remarked letting her head smack into the table.

"Who's doomed?" Michael commented as his shoes clacked lightly on the wood floor.

"Your sister is worried since I just joined Team Natsu." I supplied before hearing a mug clatter onto the bar top.

Makarov was white as a sheet with a dreadful expression on his face. "The paperwork..." He wheezed twitching then leaned back too far and fell off to the floor. I guess Lucy wasn't the only one feeling screwed that I joined Fairy Tail's most destructive team.

Looking to the center of the room awarded me with my daughters playing with Kurt and Romeo. The human boy looked a bit older than them but he didn't seem to mind at all. The four of them were playing some form of tag while throwing around a ball for the lizardlisk to chase. "Mira." I said turning to face the bar once more, and the barmaid. "Would you mind watching over my daughters for a week or so?"

"I would be happy to Aether, but why?" Mira asked cleaning the mug in her hands with a rag.

"I want to take Erza somewhere and the rest of the team can follow. Though I don't want to bring the girls to that place yet." I explained. "Also could you get them some things for me?"

Mira nodded her head. "Sure, just let me know what they need."

I requested a piece of paper and a pen before writing down a short list of things I wanted her to get for me: three small dressers, some cloths, and beds. "Keep tabs on the cost of things so I can pay you for those."

"Where do you want to take me Aether?" Erza asked making me glance to her. She sat facing me completely, having finished her plate of strawberry cake.

A smile grace my lips. "Somewhere important to me and for you to meet someone." I explained standing up. "Natsu, Gray, Lucy! Meet Erza and I at the train station in twenty minutes."

"I see where you want to go." Erza commented leaning in close before kissing me in front of the guild once again. I returned her kiss ignoring the whistling of some present. We broke apart shortly after. "Gruen."

"Yep." I whispered before walking over to my girls. I gave each of them a hug telling them I'd be gone for a bit and that Mira was to watch over them. With that out of the way Erza and I packed for the trip to Gruen. As expected the rest of Team Natsu was waiting for us at the train station. The train station employees quickly packed our stuff and the five of us got into a train car.

"Aether." Raz's voice boomed before the lizardlisk walked up to the window making several people nervous who were about to get on the train. "I'll meet you there."

I nodded. "See you there." I said then he walked off before jumping into the air to fly.

"Where are we going?" Lucy asked as she took a seat opposite me and Erza. Meanwhile Gray and Natsu sat across the isle from us. The train began moving shortly after that so the Dragonslayer put his head out the window groaning.

"Gruen." I answered before leaning onto Erza on my right while wind streamed into the window on my left. "I grew up there for a time."

Lucy's face lit up in excitement. "I know that place!" She squealed making me raise an eye brow. "Its a port city known for its large population of non-humans and is home to a number of magic shops with rare items." The Celestial mage explained clasping her hands together.

"There is a lot of Void Demons living in that city." I remarked causing Lucy to wake up from her dreamy state. How did she enter that so fast anyways? "I hope he is still alive and kicking." I wondered out loud.

"Who?" Erza asked before I shifted a little making my head fall onto her lap. She blushed a bit at the action but looked happy regardless.

"The man I want you to meet." I said noticing that Erza was actually without her normal armor, opting for a white blouse and the blue skirt. One of her hands came up to my head stroking hair gently. I let out a pleased sigh at the sensation and overall situation.

"Is he your father?" Lucy asked.

I shook my head. "I grew up in an orphanage for a few years before being forced to live in hell for a while." I closed my eyes to suppress the memories of the Tower once again. At that moment I felt Erza's hand stop moving for a few seconds before resuming. "After that hell I joined Phantom, but that is off topic. Who I want you to meet is one of two father figures in my life, the man who ran an orphanage in Gruen."

"What happened to your mother and father?" I opened my eyes to see Erza staring down at me curious and could feel the waiting silence of the others.

I looked past Erza's scarlet head to the ceiling. I hadn't thought about either of them in a very long time. I took in a breath then let it out slowly. "They died casting a spell on me when I was two. I have no idea why they did it or felt they had to do it." Silence followed only broken by the sound of the train rails. "Will I have to take a test or something to be an S-class mage again? Or will the old man let me keep my rank?" I thought aloud.

Someone snorted from across the isle. I turned to see Gray looking our way. "Considering you killed a Wizard Saint I think he will let you keep your rank from Phantom." The Ice-make mage said then closed his eyes to snooze, ignoring Natsu's groaning.

"You don't have to worry about that Aether." Erza said reassuringly.

"Good." I commented then closed my eyes to sleep. The next day we arrived at Gruen's train station in the morning. I wasn't surprised to see Natsu kissing the ground stunning the train station personnel. Turning my gaze to the city it was beautiful with sun shining onto the buildings. We were at the top of a tall hill above most of Gruen that stretched to the sea.

"It's beautiful." Lucy commented and I nodded in agreement.

Gruen had hugely expanded since I had last been here with many new buildings and much more people walking around. I could easily sense that almost half the population was Void Demon, while there was another portion that didn't feel human. The ocean looked peaceful, lazily lapping at the beach accompanied by a warm breeze in the air. Once our luggage was off the train I led the way through the busy streets. Overall people made way for us thanks to Erza's massive pile of luggage she pulled along with no problems. Eventually our group found a plaza with a large stone obelisk in the middle of it.

I walked up to it to see a plaque at hip height. The plaque read: _"This obelisk stands as a memorial to those who died in the cult attack in X770, as well as those who were taken."_

With a slight frown I brushed my fingers over the letters. The others caught up to me and I could see them look at the plaque. No one said a word as I took a few steps back then looked to the sky. _May those who died that day and in the Tower be at peace._ I prayed mentally.

"Are you alright Aether?" Gray spoke and I realized that the others were watching me.

I shook my head with a sigh. "Not really." I supplied before a shadow came over us. A few small screams sounded before the familiar thud of a giant lizardlisk landing made itself known. "I was here in Gruen when the cultists attacked." Gray and Lucy's eyes widened in shock.

"Is that why you didn't want to bring your daughters?" Raz asked so I looked over my shoulder at the reptile.

"More or less, though I wanted Erza to meet Taeron if he is still alive." I explained. "And that goes for the rest of you guys."

Lucy smiled. "I can tell visiting this city means a lot to you. Thanks for letting us come along."

"You're welcome." I said as I passed her walking to where I remembered the market district was. Within ten minutes we got there and wandered around. The district like the city itself was far larger than it was last time I was here. Eventually I found a large hotel with the beach resort feel to it. The building was huge, but next door was an even larger building with several bridges that linked it to the hotel. We entered to a lobby that was far more spacious then the outside of the building would suggest.

Crimson, gold, and dark wood dominated the colors of the floor. A few people were sitting among the many couches and lazy chairs along the wall that contained the entrance. Opposite the front door sat a massive desk built for someone that was far larger than a human. Behind that monstrous desk was a stunning dark skinned beauty with light green hair tied into twin braids that went over her chest. Her black business top fit snugly around her chest and went below the line of the desk. However I noticed a tail tip lazily swaying towards the far side next to a wide ramp leading up.

"Welcome!" The green haired woman said in a pleasant tone. We walked over to the desk where part of it was chest height for me.

"We'd like to rent a few rooms." I said before seeing her pink slitted eyes scan over the group before they went back to me.

"One for the redheads, one for the celestial mage, and one for the two boys?"

I heard Lucy gasp. "How do you know I'm a celestial mage?"

The clerk smiled warmly. "I can sense the magic you all use, like the Void Demon of your group."

"I have to share a room with ash for brains?" Gray grumbled.

"I'm not going to be in the same room with this Ice Princess." Natsu growled.

"Wanna go fire-stick!?"

"Bring it stripper!" Natsu barked and a fist fight began between them.

Without warning a boom sounded behind us. I turned with a sword in one hand and the other coated in Void Fire. However what greeted me was one of Raz's paws over the top of Gray and Natsu whom were pancaked into the floor. Surprisingly the room was large enough for him.

"Can you idiots not fight at every available moment?" Raz grunted then removed his paw to let the boys get up from the floor.

I relaxed dismissing the weapon and Void Fire. The clerk giggled as I turned back to her. Erza then decided to grab my left hand with her right.

"Those two must be Natsu Dragneel and..." She paused before a hungry look came to her face. "Oh my..."

"The infamous stripper of Fairy Tail, Gray fullbuster." I said with a sigh.

"Put some cloths on!" Lucy barked as the ice wizard groaned.

"So the rumor is true." The clerk commented and I raised an eyebrow. She pointed to the hand Erza had in her's. "Erza Scarlet and Aether Wade are together."

"We are." Erza answered in confidence. "That aside, the rooms you mentioned will work for us."

In a blur she had a clip board and was writing on it. "Just sign your names on this and here are the keys to your rooms." She said handing over the clip board to Erza while sliding four keys towards us. "The fourth key is for the lizardlisk's room."

"Ah." I said then got handed the clip board to sign. I sighed seeing Erza's terrible handwriting. Once I had written my name down I handed it to Lucy, then it went to Gray, then Natsu. The Dragonslayer handed it to me where I caught sight of his also terrible handwriting. _I'm going to have to fix that for both of them._ I thought handing the clipboard back to the clerk. I grabbed the fourth key that was many times larger than the others and held it out for Raz. "This giant key is for your room."

Raz accepted the key with one paw. "Interesting." He commented.

"Someone will show you where your room is lizardlisk." The clerk commented before Raz was led away out through the front doors by a human male in a black suit. "Follow me you four." The clerk said then moved. I could tell that wasn't human movement as she moved away from the desk.

Erza froze in front of me, and I knew why. The clerk wasn't human since the lower body of a snake took the place of her legs. The business suit had a skirt type thing that covered her crotch and a bit past that. "So you're a lamia?"

The clerk looked over her shoulder to us. "First time seeing one?" She gestured to Erza.

My lover shook her head. "Sorry." Erza apologized. "This is my first time seeing one."

The clerk smiled. "Don't worry about it." With that she continued going up the ramp.

"That explains why there is a ramp instead of stairs." Lucy commented and we followed the lamia's light green tail. She led us to the fourth floor where we found her waiting at the far end of the hallway.

She pointed to the door on her right. "This room is for the redheaded couple and the door opposite is for the Celestial mage." She said then with her tail tapped a door that was two away from Lucy's. "That room is for the boys to share." The two in question glared at each other but I glared at them, causing both to stop.

"W-We'll share." Gray stuttered fearfully.

"Good." I smiled sweetly then handed the key with number "409" to Erza.

"Please enjoy your stay!" The lamia said in a cheerful tone before leaving.

I heard the key turn and Erza gasped. I looked to the room to see the door open, and why she was silent. The room was massive and decorated in colors like the lobby. Overall it gave off the feel of a five star resort room. Then a thud brought our attention to the hallway where Erza's mountain of luggage was parked by us.

"Here's your luggage Miss Scarlet." A young teenager said with a bow. He stood up allowing me to see silver eyes while his blond hair was tied into a short braid.

"Thanks." Erza said then the kid left with quick steps similar to how I normally walk.

"Let's get our stuff into the rooms then explore the city a bit." I said getting a nod from Lucy and Gray. With that Erza and I spent a few minutes getting her luggage inside the hotel room. Once that was done I explored the room for the hell of it. The place was definitely a couple's room that held some form of enchantment over it. The far right side had a small kitchenette while a large canopy bed sat next to the middle of the back wall. To the left of that a few feet was sliding glass doors leading to a balcony. The left side of the room had a large long move stand that was more like a dresser and a door past that with a spacious bathroom behind it. On the movie stand I found a note along with a box of condoms and several different bottles of lube.

"What did you find?" Erza commented walking over to me. She picked up the note. "This room has enchantments that create a barrier blocking sound from leaving or entering from outside if you wish to have some privacy while enjoying each other. There is a box of standard condoms and bottles of lube for you to use if you wish. From the Twilight Dawn staff."

I grinned glancing over the bottles of lube. "That saves us the trouble of getting some, unless you already have some lube in one of those containers of luggage." At the end of the movie stand was a tiny red crystal that was oval shaped. It held the same magic I sensed in the borders or the room. "That little red crystal is to activate the sound barrier I guess."

"Is that so?" She said reaching for the crystal. Then she put a tiny amount of magic into it causing the barrier enchant flare to life. At that moment the ocean sounds vanished completely with magic humming quietly along the border of the room, then went silent. "We were interrupted last time."

I was about to ask what she meant but she crashed her lips into mine. It was messy as she thrust her tong into my mouth and I retaliated with my own. At the same time her arms hugged my neck and head to pull me into her. I pushed her a bit stumbling towards the bed. I dismissed my clothing right before Erza's leg hit the edge of the bed causing us to fall on it. At that moment we broke apart for air. "We were, but not this time." I said before grabbing Erza's breasts and squeezing those amazing mounds.

Erza moaned before I captured her lips this time. The kiss was hot and messy with her hands once again grabbing my head. While she did that I kneaded the mounds of flesh in my hands a few times. Then I traced her shirt to find the buttons. Once those were located I started undoing them. We broke apart with Erza tossing her shirt off to the side followed by her dark blue bra. Then I worked to get her boots off along with her skirt and matching underwear.

With the rest of her cloths off I went back to Erza's lips for a minute then trailed kisses down to her chest. Soft moans left her lips until I got one of her nipples into my mouth. Once my tong touched it she took in a sharp breath and moaned louder. I kneaded and played with the other breast, making sure to give it attention as well.

"Your tong...feels...so good!" Erza said through her moans. I bit the nipple in my mouth lightly making her arch her back with a sharp moan. I let go of the nipple with one last flick of my tong over it. For some time I gave the other nipple attention and kneaded the breast I had been nibbling. I trailed my right hand lightly over her skin feeling the redhead squirm at my touch. Slowly I brought it to her thoroughly wet sex and rubbed. Quickly her hips started moving, trying to have more pressure there. Through that movement two fingers slipped inside unexpectedly accompanied by a loud moan.

Since my fingers were already inside I started moving them. She continued moaning audibly and panting, moving her hips to the pace of my hand. I chuckled biting lightly the nipple in my mouth at the same time speeding up my hand.

"AH!" Erza moaned loudly arching her back a bit. She quickened her pace again to match my hand before one of her hands pressed my face into her chest. Again I sped up the pace of my hand earning faster and louder moans from my lover. Not long after I felt her insides constrict on my fingers. "Aether!" She screamed cumming on my hand and the top layer of blankets. I deliberately sucked my fingers clean slowly.

There was a pause as she recovered then grabbed my shoulders to pull me to her. Once pressed up against her she rolled to my left, placing me under her. Immediately she began kneading my breasts and kissing my neck. Moans came out of my mouth as her feather light kisses sent shivers down my spine. Slowly she reached the nipple of my right breast before taking it into her mouth. Erza played with it using her tong sending jolts of pleasure through me.

I arched my back as a hand kneaded the other breast at the same time. A stream of steady moans left my mouth through pants, then she bit the nipple gently. A sharp moan left my mouth right as she stopped. Erza switched nibbling the nipple of the breast she had been kneading. For a few minutes she did that before sliding a hand down south to my already parted legs. I could feel how soaked the blanket was from my juices as her hand reached there. She rubbed slowly in circles as she continued to give my chest duel attention from a hand and her mouth.

It wasn't long before she moved a little faster making me moan louder. "Yes!" I called arching my back more from her ministrations. Without warning she slowed down and inserted two fingers. At that moment she released the nipple in her mouth while grabbing the mound of flesh in hand a bit rougher. She pinched my left nipple generating a loud moan from the mixture of pain and pleasure. Suddenly she sped up her hand's movement that I tried to match with my hips. "Fuck yes!" I yelled feeling an orgasm fast approaching. About a minute or so later my insides constricted around her fingers as it arrived. "Erza!" I hollered cumming onto her hand, bed, and floor.

Erza removed her fingers before bringing them to her mouth. As I had done with her she sucked them clean slowly. Once that was done she stood up and went over to her luggage pile in the corner by the door. She rifled around for nearly two minutes allowing me to catch my breath. I watched her movement as she walked back with a small gym bag in hand.

"What's in there?" I asked as she placed the light blue bag onto the end of the bed, where we hadn't made a mess.

"Toys." Erza answered then opened the zipper. Sure enough I could see a number of dildos inside the bag and straps for a strap-on or two. "I want to use some of these on you, and since the hotel provided lube it will be easier."

"Should be fun." I said sitting up to kiss Erza quickly. One of my feet went under the bed and touched something unexpected. Leaning down I reached for whatever was down there. I pulled out whatever the light object was to discover an inflated air bed with raised walls on the border. I grinned looking at it. "I quite like how this room has bottles of lube and something to use it with."

"This is an ideal hotel for beach trips in the future." Erza commented and I nodded in approval. I watched as she pulled out two ruby colored dildos then a solid black strap-on. I walked over to the movie stand so Erza could pull the air bed out all the way. Ignoring what each bottle's label said I grabbed all five and brought them to her. She had moved the airbed to the middle of the room where it was out of reach of the furniture.

"Here's the lube bottles." I said letting them fall to the floor by one corner of the airbed. She grabbed one and I did as well to examine the label. "Edible strawberry lube. Safe to use for for all sexual activities and can be used with any sex toys, magical or non-magical." I read from the label.

"There are two more with the same description on the label." Erza commented moving things around. I turned my gaze to her to see two out of the four lube bottles near her and the remaining ones apart. "The other two are watermelon flavored."

I shuddered handing the bottle to Erza. I've never really been a fan of watermelon. The artificial stuff tastes nothing like the fruit as far as I'm concerned. I grabbed the two bottles that Erza had separated and put them back onto the movie stand. The redhead plopped down onto the airbed then tossed a bottle at me. The item in question was about the same size as a standard aluminum soda can with a snap lid to it. I popped the cap before pointing it at Erza and squeezing the bottle.

"Kyaa!" Erza squealed as the lube landed on her in a spray. I grinned before squirting more onto her as I walked closer. Before getting to the airbed I nabbed the three sex toys Erza had gotten out from the gym bag. Dropping them by the side I snapped the cap closed on the bottle. The substance was spread down the line of her spine, shining slightly from the lights. I placed the lube to the side next to the toys then started rubbing it onto her skin.

Erza moaned lightly as I made sure it was spread over her back. However it took several more times squeezing the bottle to have her body slick all over except her face. Erza rolled over using the slickness of the lube to stay in place on the airbed, which at this point was nearly covered in it. That made it difficult for me to stay upright without falling onto her. I sat on my knees kneading her breasts enjoying the feel of the lube on her skin. As I did that I trailed a line of wet kisses to her pussy. The strawberry lube added to Erza's already incredible taste.

Her hands quickly found my head grabbing two handfuls of hair. I wasted little time dragging my tong across her lower lips eliciting a drawn out moan. I smirked then retracted my hands from her chest as I continued to lick her. With one hand I spread her lower lips thrusting my tong inside her. She arched her back causing me to shift a little and slide, landing flat on my stomach. The lube was a bit cold from rubber of the airbed making me let out a surprised yelp from the temperature sensation.

I pulled back a little slipping two fingers into Erza's cavern in place of my tong. The movement of my hand was slow as I began to lick her bud.

"Yes!" Erza called gripping my head tighter and bucking her hips. "Fuck me!" She moaned pushing my head into her more, so I quickened the speed of my hand. It wasn't long before she let out a fierce moan as she hit orgasm. I lapped up as much of her honey as possible. Looking up awarded me with Erza gazing at me hungrily. I wiped my face off without breaking eye contact and licked my fingers clean. Then I started to move up to kiss her, but my knee slipped on the lube and I face planted to Erza's left.

I sat up quickly while she giggled. We switched places with me at the center and her to the left side of the bed. I slid down onto my stomach and pulled my hair out of the way. Just after I put my arms onto the slick airbed I felt the slightly cool sensation of the lube. It nearly made me squeal and I felt a lot of it get sprayed onto my back. Erza wasted little time after that rubbing it all over my backside and legs, giving my rump some extra squeezing.

I chuckled at that then turned over she she could spread it over my front. Within a minute Erza had rubbed the lube over me before trailing kisses from my neck to my chest. She played with a nipple using her tong causing me to let out a quiet moan. She did that for a little bit then went down. I spread my legs as her head reached my honey pot. I felt her breath there making me shudder in anticipation. Then she began tracing the edge of my lower lips with her tong.

That elicited moans from me that were pretty steady. "Ah!" I moaned as her tong went inside me seeking to devour and explore. Instantly I reached for her head to grab handfuls of hair and pull her further into me. "Right there!" I called feeling her dexterous appendage hit a sensitive spot over and over. Loud moans echoed from my throat between pants for breath. It wasn't long before another orgasm hit causing me to arch my back and unleash the flood gates. I could feel her lapping up as much juice as possible before I released the grip on her hair.

"You taste intoxicating." Erza commented with a hum. I panted regaining breath as I watched her reach for something. That something was the two ruby colored dildos that let light go through them. Erza got onto her knees shifting position to have her wet snatch over my face. Looking to my right let me see her grab a bottle of lube. Hearing the snap of the cap opening I knew she was doing. Sure enough I felt a few drops of lube land on my stomach before one dildo was placed in between my breasts.

I felt Erza shift position again through the air mattress. Not long after that I felt her breath on my lower lips causing a small whimper to leave my mouth. Grabbing the dildo between my rack with a hand I leaned up with my head to devour her lovely pussy. Erza was positively dripping with arousal. Once her pussy was in range I quickly started devouring it earning moans from the redhead. Shortly after I felt her tong on my pussy along with her moans that sent small vibrations through me, which felt good. We devoured each other with interest for a minute or so then I lined up the dildo with her entrance. I stuck the toy in slowly feeling Erza stop ministrations with her tong to moan.

I let it sit there for a few moments once I had it mostly inside her. After that I began to move it slowly earning more moans. Moments after a loud moan I felt the tip of something tease my entrance before going in. I paused my movement to moan spreading my legs wider. Erza gave me a moment or two to adjust to the dildo then started pumping it in and out. It felt as good as the first time we had sex when she used the void ice dildo. Working through the pleasure I resumed movement of the dido I had in hand.

"AH!" I moaned loudly when she picked up speed without warning. Despite the pleasure building up in me again I accepted her challenge and sped up my own movement. This caused her to moan equally as loud. For some time the two of pumped the other with a dildo with moans and pants echoing from out mouths. I felt the angle of Erza's dido tilt hitting a very sensitive spot. "Oh fuck, oh fuck! Yes! Fuck me!" I chanted feeling another knot towards my stomach. To get back at her I also changed the angle of the dido in my hand.

"Fuck yes!" Erza called arching her back. "Oh god, oh god! Fuck me harder!" She added panting barely able to put the words together between moans. I felt the dido suddenly get pulled into her. "I'm cumming!" She hollered and moments later I did as well with a roaring moan.

She fell flat on me panting for breath as I did the same letting my head rest on the air mattress. The two of us stayed like that for some time catching our breaths once more. Slowly I pulled out the ruby dildo from Erza before my lover pulled out the one in me equally slow. Once those were out the toys landed next to each other on my right. She shifted sitting up to get on her hands and knees to look at me, scarlet hair damp with lube and clinging to her skin.

I smiled up at her and she returned it. "We've used two of the three toys..." I trailed off starting to feel like I could start breathing normally. However I still didn't feel quite satisfied.

"Indeed." Erza remarked moving to reach for the only sex toy we hadn't used yet. She quickly sat back holding the toy in one hand. The solid black strap-on was longer than the two ruby dildos and had more girth to it by a little bit. However what caught my attention was that it had a series of ridges along its length to almost the base. Erza placed the strap-on loosely over my abs. She reached for one of the bottles of lube before opening it up and squirting some onto her hand. I took the bottle from her hand and placed it on the floor.

"Want me to use it on you first?" I asked as Erza placed her hands onto the black strap-on to lube it up. "Last time you couldn't stand for any length of time after the pounding."

"True." She smirked making sure to coat the toy thoroughly. "However I did not have your tail drilling my insides this time. And why didn't you change form?"

Erza had a point there. The tail, the void ice dildo, and the fact we had sex standing almost the entire time probably took away most of her ability to stand after that activity. I held my hips up and fiddled with the straps, securing the toy around my waist. The bands were surprisingly soft and not the thick cloth that feels as if it will cut you that many straps tend to have for things like backpacks or small carry bags.

I slid to a sitting position right as Erza removed her hands from the toy which glistened like our sweat and lube covered skin. Shrugging I replied. "I wanted to experience sex in human form this time. Plus I'm sure my claws would have torn a number of holes in the airbed by now."

Erza chuckled. "You have a point." She said before grabbing my waist to move me to the bottom end of the airbed. I watched her lay back and spread her legs wide, assuming position.

"You wanted to start with missionary?" I asked raising an eyebrow as I moved to have the strap-on near her entrance.

Erza shrugged. "Most of the books I have read start with this position..." She trailed off looking away.

I snorted then with a hand traced a few circles around the edge of her soaked pussy. Erza took a sharp intake of breath and let it out slowly. After the third complete circle I shifted it lower and pushed in. "Hmmm!" She mewled in pleasure as the strap-on slid into her until I stopped with about a fourth of it visible. I paused letting her adjust to the toy which was larger than the others we used. After that she gave me a look that demanded I start fucking her. With that silent order I pulled back to near the tip getting a notable moan from her, then back in.

"Ah! Yes!" She called as I pulled out then back finding a comfortable and semi-fast rhythm for me. At that speed she moaned loudly bucking her hips to my movement. I grabbed onto her thighs holding them back at the underside of the knee giving me more room to pound Erza. At that moment I picked up speed causing Erza's moans to escalate in volume very quickly. "I'm...cumming!" She yelled as I felt the toy get tugged on. I took it out before flipping Erza so she was on her hands and knees.

I leaned forward pressing my ample buxom into her back as the redhead panted for breath. "After this position it's my turn to ride this." I said getting a nod from her. Leaning back up I guided the strap-on back to her entrance and thrust forwards. A loud moan echoed from her throat as it went to the hilt. I quickly put my hands on her hips as a guiding force. Slowly I picked up speed.

"Fuck me faster!" Erza ordered between moans so I complied pumping faster with the toy using her hips to help speed things up. "It feels so good!" She moaned as I kept the pace feeling a little bit of the toy rub on my own pussy. "I love it!"

As an experiment I kept my left hand on her hip and moved my right before slapping Erza's right ass cheek once. A resounding smack echoed with the slapping of me pounding her. The reaction I got was Erza arcing her head back and letting out a sharp moan. Smirking at that I slapped that cheek again as I sped up my thrusting. Another sharp moaned issued from her mouth. To be even I slapped her left cheek twice generating a moan after each time. Then I felt Erza's body shudder as she screamed out an orgasm. She stayed still at the same time I pulled out the strap-on from her.

"Hmm." Erza hummed dreamily. "That one is a keeper." She commented turning around to be on her knees in front of it. Her hands worked quickly to undo the straps that held it to my waist. "Now it's your turn." She added with a sultry tone sending shivers down my spine, intensifying the already burning desire to try the sex toy. With speed and accuracy Erza secured the strap-on to her waist with the bands as she stood on her knees.

Gently I pushed her back making the redhead lay down on the airbed. I crawled over top of Erza capturing her lips in a kiss for a minute or so. After that I sat up positioning myself over the strap-on before slowly going onto it. There was slight resistance as the tip entered, but after that it went in smoothly.

"Holy shit." I breathed feeling the ridges of the sex toy rub against the sensitive walls of my pussy. As not to hurt myself I lowered onto the toy slowly moaning until I came to rest on Erza's crotch. "I like the feel of this monster already." I commented earning a giggle from Erza. After maybe thirty seconds or so I started moving. Moans immediately echoed from my mouth as pleasure burned through me. It wasn't long before I sped up the pace of my riding. "Fuck yes!" I cried out before seeing Erza's form start to move. She thrust up as I came down slamming the toy to the hilt and making me scream out another moan with my back arched. With a shudder I came splashing more juice onto each other. I remained like that for a few seconds to be able to regain my barrings.

Suddenly Erza's hands settled on my hips before she flipped me sideways. The action startled me causing a yelp of surprise to come from my lips. She positioned me on my side in front of her while holding up a leg with my back facing her. Erza wasted little time thrusting the strap on back into my soaked cavern. Roaring moans left my mouth between pants as pleasure consumed my mind. The hand that was not holding up my left leg reached around my neck to grope a breast. She squeezed and kneaded it roughly sending small jolts of pain through my body on top of the pleasure the strap-on was giving me.

"Faster!" I called through moans feeling Erza pick up a speed. She shifted gaining more speed and making the strap-on go further inside me. "It feels so fucking good!" I said feeling myself getting closer to another orgasm. A minute later I felt my insides constrict again around the strap-on as I shuddered "Erza!" I shook lightly for about ten seconds or so panting heavily as Erza stopped her movement. She stayed still for a few moments before pulling out making me release a slow moan.

"Are..." Erza paused to breath a bit. "Are you wanting to do...another...position?" She asked siting up to be on her knees.

It was quite tempting given how that strap-on felt. However I did feel satisfied for now. "As tempting as that is, I think I've had my fun for now."

"Okay." Erza said planting a chaste kiss on my lips before getting up. I watched her take off the strap-on and put it next to the other sex toys she got out. She laid down on the airbed before snuggling into me. With an arm I helped move her so that she was resting her head on my right shoulder at the neck. "There is something...I need to..tell you." Erza said with nervous pauses.

I wrapped my arms around her midsection to have them rest on her stomach. "What is it, love?" I asked getting the feeling I knew what she was going to talk about.

"I...have had sex with another woman before you."

"Mira." I said getting a nod. "The She-Devil told me when I visited Fairy Tail for the first time."

"I see." Erza commented with a relieved sigh. "Have you longed for anyone besides me?"

"Huh?" I said not expecting the question. "Well..." I paused thinking on it some. Truth be told I had though I never acted upon those thoughts. "I'd be a fool to say I haven't. Why did you want to know?"

Erza took in a deep breath then let it out slowly. "I still feel attraction to Mira and I want to be with a lot of women including you."

I chuckled. "In other words you want a harem of women?"

"Yes." Erza chirped.

"That makes things easier, as I want one too." I said hugging Erza tightly feeling her slide a bit since we still had lube on us. "When we get back to the guild we can ask Mira to join us for some fun in bed as a start."

"That will be wonderful." Erza commented.

"What are your thoughts on public displays of affection?"

I felt Erza chuckle. "I will display my affections however I wish. If people have a problem with that they can go to hell or face my wrath."

The two of us stayed cuddled up for another five minutes before I used Telekinesis magic to get the stone to turn off the sound barrier. Once close enough I grabbed it and turned off the barrier, tossing it in the direction of the movie stand. "We should get cleaned up and meet up with Lucy and the others."

"Right." She said as I let go of her. With a little difficulty she got to her feet and off the airbed. I followed suit rolling to the side off of it before standing. Once on the carpet Erza led the way to the bathroom that was much like the one at her room in Fairy Hills. That meant it was spacious with marble counters, a shower stall big enough for three people, and a tub that could seat easily four adult humans. I turned on the water for the shower stall watching as within seconds steam started to build in the bathroom.

"Hot water on demand is amazing." I commented idly getting a giggle from my lover. Over the next fifteen minutes the two of us cleaned the other in the shower. After that we exited to dry off requiping clothing once dry. Erza had chosen a sleeveless white blouse with a gray skirt that ended mid thigh on her. I chose to have a gray tank top with matching colored skirt that ended mid thigh.

"Can you sense where Lucy and the others are?" Erza asked as she left the bathroom going to her discarded boots from our earlier activity.

"I know where they are, but you are half Void Demon. You need to work on your magic sensing ability, so try and sense for them." I said already feeling that Lucy was walking around the beach with the guys not far from her gong nuts.

Erza nodded as I watched her close her eyes. For some time she breathed at a calm steady rate then opened her eyes. "Lucy is some where on the beach and the boys are not far from her."

I nodded. "That's where they are, so lets get to the guys before they cause a storm." I said hearing Erza chuckle at that. We left the room after Erza put the sex toys back into the blue gym bag. The streets were still packed with people, Void Demons, and some non-humans. I grabbed Erza's right hand in my left as a means to not get separated in the crowd. We passed many new shops and I came to a halt as something familiar caught my eye. It was an aged butcher shop with wood that had not seen a fresh coat of paint in years.

I went over to it and entered. The inside had not changed much from how it was when I last came here. The only thing that had changed was the store held more cuts of meat in cases for people to order. Next to the side door was a row of chairs that were probably for customers so they don't have to stand to wait.

"Welcome to-" A voice said before stopping dead in its tracks. I turned to see a woman who seemed to be somewhere in her seventies, or maybe eighties with pure white hair tied into a pony tail that hung over one shoulder. Her thin hand shook as the woman stared at me. No blood stained apron was present letting me see dull brown long sleeve shirt and pants on her form. "Aether?"

I smiled. "Good to see you still alive and kicking Azumi." I commented letting go of Erza's hand just in time. Azumi rushed over and gave me a crushing hug, despite her thin form. I returned her hug trying not to put too much force into it.

"We thought you had died when the cultists attacked." Azumi said as she trembled, then I felt tears fall onto my shoulder.

"I was taken with a lot of other children." I paused gently rubbing the old human's back. "Unfortunately many who were taken are dead."

"I see." Azumi remarked before slowly pulling herself from me. She used one hand to wipe away her shed tears. "Who is this lovely lady?"

"Erza Scarlet." The redhead supplied. "I am Aether's girlfriend."

"Oh my!" Azumi commented making me raise an eyebrow. Her wrinkled face showed nothing but pure joy. She grabbed both of my hands suddenly and started shaking them. "I'm happy that you have found someone to love Aether."

"Thanks." I said not really sure what else I could say to that. Azumi let go of my hands before turning to leave for the back room. She came back out a minute later with two small strips of raw meat. "Rabbit meat?"

"It is." Azumi answered handing one piece to me and holding out the other for Erza. The redhead looked at the piece of raw meat skeptically. "Half Void Demons like yourself can eat raw meat safely Miss Scarlet."

Erza nodded slowly then took the piece of meat from her with one hand. She looked at it for a few moments before taking a small bite next to the fingers holding said strip of meat. She mulled it over for some time as Azumi and I watched her patiently. Her eyes lit up in surprise before she swallowed. "This is unexpectedly good." She commented taking another bite, then I began eating my own strip of rabbit meat.

"Those two strips of meat are on the house for your return to Gruen." Azumi said with a smile. "Make sure to talk to Taeron, that boy will be happy to see you."

Erza and I finished the strips of rabbit meat quickly. "We will." We replied in unison. With that we licked out fingers clean and exited the butcher shop.

"I've noticed that you're in armor less." I commented bringing her brown eyes to my silver ones.

She smiled before leaning in and giving me a quick kiss. "I don't feel the need to guard my heart as much being with you."

"I'm glad." She intertwined one of our hands again as we set off for the beach. Despite crowded streets we got there fairly quickly to see quite the spectacle. Ice dotted the sand while some spots appeared scorched. Gray and Natsu ran for dear life from a very pissed off Celestial mage who held one hand over her chest that was missing one part of her swimsuit, and the bottom half was a little fire damaged.

Erza chuckled at the scene in front of us. "It is nice to know that you and I are not the only ones who can make them run in fear."

"Get your naked ass back here!" Lucy hollered in fury as she neared the ice mage whom was running around naked. She started to close in on him before a blast of fire surged from the ocean forcing Lucy to stop running, Gray to flatten to the sand while the fire threw Natsu to the side. They all stopped to watch the water where the fire had come from for nearly a minute.

"That was weird." Gray commented standing up before a blast of steaming water hit him in the face.

I snickered knowing who was messing with the ice wizard. Moments later Raz surged from the ocean onto the beach splashing the three mages with water.

"Got you Ice Stripper." The lizardlisk smirked as the ice mage in question looked at him shocked.

Shaking my head I walked towards them with Erza following in step. "What happened here?" I asked making the three of them look at us nervously.

"These two idiots kept challenging each other to do various things such as who could swim the fastest." Raz explained with Lucy nodding.

"And I take it Lucy got caught in the crossfire at some point." I said getting a nod from Lucy and Raz.

Natsu and Gray hung their heads. "We're sorry." the said in unison.

"What's done is done." I commented with a sigh. "Time to visit the first father figure of my life." At that they all perked up and I turned my attention to Lucy who still held an arm over her chest. I let go of Erza's hand then help up both of mine palm up. I focused energy into them picturing a bikini top and one materialized having a dark blue color for it.

"Wow..." Lucy trailed off as the guys stared at my hands and the object in them.

Erza stared intently at the bikini top. "I didn't know you could do that."

"Hopefully this will fit Lucy." I said handing the article of clothing to the blond. With a snap of my fingers a Void Barrier came to life around her. "This barrier will block anyone from seeing you so go ahead and put it on."

"Okay." Lucy said from the other side of the barrier. Several moments passed before she called out. "Done."

With that I dismissed the barrier to see my handiwork. The top did not match the white semi scorched bottom but at least it seemed to fit her chest. "What I did is not too different from conjuring weapons of Void Energy, though I turned it into cloth in this case. It is something I don't do often though." I explained leading the way to the edge of the city. Some time passed in silence before the forest near Gruen bordered the dirt road. The forest held that same calm sense as it did all those times I hunted for food in them years ago.

"Is that it?" Gray asked gesturing forwards.

At the top of the hill rested a large building that was rectangular and four floors tall. From here I could see that it was made of dark colored brick, like stormy clouds. "Its in the same spot as before." I remarked sensing dozens of children and a number of adults. "Though the building seems to have gotten an upgrade." We continued on to the front gates of the orphanage. It had a fence around the perimeter with a metal see through gate that had the words "Taeron's Orphanage" made of metal on the top. Past that the front doors of the building were large double doors reminding me of the entrance to Qrow's mansion.

A number of boys ran around in the front yard playing tag or something like it ignoring our group. Off to the side sat several young girls seated next to the fence watching the gates. Two of the four were human while the other two were not. One was black haired with bright green eyes that glowed even in the daylight and two curved horns on her head. Her form was mostly human save for her legs below the knees and her hands. Both were covered in black scales with legs that ended like mine in Secondary Form. That girl's companion appeared to be roughly ten or so with golden blond hair and gleaming yellow eyes. The only article of clothing was a large t-shirt that went over her torso since the rest of her body was that of a large feline.

"What the h-" Natsu began before I closed a hand over his mouth to stop the Dragonslayer's speech.

"As you see this orphanage is home to many who are not human, such as Void Demons and others." I explained, the pinkette nodding. "Do not antagonize them where they feel safe."

"Who are they?" One of the girls watching the gate commented. Once those words left her mouth the group of boys running around stopped to look at us.

The green eyes of the scaled girl narrowed in focus then they went wide. Suddenly she stood up shoving a hand in the air. "Fairy Tail mages!" She said with a voice that sounded far more mature than it should for one whom looked to be anywhere from five to nine years old. That was the signal for the kids in the front yard to stop what there were doing and to bum rush us.

In a flash of electric purple the scaled girl teleported to right in front of Natsu. For his part the Dragonslayer didn't freak out except for some minor flinching at the teleportation. It was moments later that the others came to surround us firing off questions so fast I couldn't make out any of them. All of us had some children trying to get our attention, even Lucy who was stunned into silence.

"One question at a time!" Raz barked silencing the orphans in one go. "The scaled girl gets to ask first." The lizardlisk gestured one paw to the girl standing in front of Natsu.

"Where did you get the scarf?" She asked pointing at the scaled item around Natsu's neck.

The Dragonslayer glanced at it, putting one hand on the scarf. "I got it from my father Igneel."

"Igneel?" The girl repeated tilting her head to the side. "What is he?"

Natsu wasted little time answering. "A dragon."

Her green eyes seemed to glow brighter somehow. "A dragon?!" She asked excitedly, like a kid getting what they thought they might for a birthday or Christmas present. The Dragonslayer nodded. "One of my parents was a dragon!"

"Eh?!" Lucy remarked shocked.

It made sense to me given how the girl looked. However it could be a demon form that has dragon-like aspects. I sensed specifically for her magic signature and my eyes widened briefly. It was nearly the same as Natsu's, but her magic was a different element from what I could feel. "Do you remember much of your dragon parent?" I asked bringing her attention to me. "Natsu, the one you talked to, has been searching for Igneel for a long time."

The girl looked down to the ground shaking her head. "I just remember that he put me into hibernation as a war was going on. Then the next thing I knew I was here." I heard her sniff the air a few times as her green eyes darted back and forth between Erza and I. "Why do I smell her on you?" She said first pointing at Erza then to me.

My face flushed red as I tried to come up with some sort of reply. "We...uh..." I started but paused when I heard Natsu hum in thought.

"I've noticed th-" I didn't give him the time to finish that sentence as I whirled around and socked him in the face, only my fist wasn't alone. Erza's fist impacted at the same time mine did sending the Dragonslayer into the forest nearby. Glancing at her Erza's face was about as red as mine.

"They were cuddling." Lucy said making me let out a breath of relief. Facing away from the kids I forced down the blush with some mental effort.

I turned to see the dragon girl think it over. "Okay." She said after a pause though I had the feeling she didn't buy Lucy's excuse.

"Can you show us some of your magic?" The cat centaur female asked walking up as the others made way for her larger than human form.

"Sure." Erza supplied the summoned a sword into one hand then swapped to Blackwing Armor. After a few seconds she swapped back to her white blouse and blue skirt and dismissed the sword.

The cat's eyes widened in realization. "You're Titania!" Erza smiled at the recognition. "You're Gray Fullbuster, and the one who got hit into the woods was Salamander?" She added pointing to Gray then over in the direction of where Natsu went flying.

"Yeah." Gray answered once again having taken his shirt off.

"Take any more of your cloths off and there will be pain Gray." I warned holding up one hand that sparked with Void Lightning.

Gray paled holding up both hands. "I get it!"

I smirked. "Good."

"Who are you two and the lizard?" The cat girl said bringing my attention back to her. One of her hands was pointed at me while the other one was pointed at Lucy or Raz.

"I'm Lucy, one of the newer members of Fairy Tail." The blond explained with a smile while showing the pink guild mark on her hand.

I moved my left arm to in front of me with the forearm facing the girl. "I'm Aether Wade, otherwise known as War Maiden." I said watching as her eyes focused on my Fairy Tail guild mark. "The scaled one with us is my lizardlisk Raz, whom I have raised from an egg."

"What is the commotion for?" A gruff male voice asked. I looked up to see Taeron standing in the middle of the front doors looking at us surprised. "Fairy Tail mages?"

I smiled seeing the man in a worn black tank top and faded blue jeans, just like the last time I saw him all those years ago. "You seem to be doing well Taeron."

His eyes found me as his mouth hung open a little. "A-Aether?!" He spoke so quietly I almost couldn't hear him.

"In the flesh." I said with a nod.

He composed himself quickly. "I want to talk to you in private."

"Of course." I said before Taeron entered the orphanage. "Can you guys wait out here or in the building?"

A few moments of silence passed with Erza putting a hand on her chin. "We can wait out here for you."

"I'll be back soon." I commented taking a step to kiss Erza quickly then went inside to follow Taeron. He was a bit ahead of me in the main hallway with stairs on either side leading to the floors above. He went to nearly the back side of the building then took a left. Around that corner was another hallway with a door at the end. Taeron entered that door leaving it open for me. Once inside I closed the door feeling a slight magic tingle in the air. "Your office has a sound barrier."

"It does." Taeron replied taking a seat behind a large desk that was much like the one I remembered. Stacks of papers rested on the two edges while the middle was clear save for an open book. "Take a seat." He said gesturing to one of the two couches in the room. Looking it over briefly I could see he kept the same set up of his last office, just more space with this one.

I took a seat at one of the couches before turning to face Tearon. "Where would you like me to start?"

Taeron closed his eyes in thought. For almost a minute he was silent before those eyes of his opened. "What happened to you and the others who went to Gruen that day?"

I remembered that day well enough, as it was a life changing moment. "The five of us went down to Gruen as you know. We visited Azumi's butcher shop so I could get a snack of raw meat. However that trip didn't last long as I sensed a dark force that attacked the city."

"Zeref cultists." Taeron spat with venom. It was probably the only time I heard any amount of hostility in his voice.

I nodded. "I sensed them right before they attacked. Then the five of us ran only to get caught by some of the cultists and their demon dog. I fought the demon dog to let the others escape, and killed it along with three cultists. Then I was ambushed by their leader whom beat me. After that Jack, Ryan, Kayla and me were rounded up with other children and taken onto ships."

"Where did those ships take you four?" He asked with focused eyes.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Those boats took us and hundreds more to a place called the Tower of Heaven. Where we introduced to the dark side of humanity, working in slavery to build that tower. However slavery wasn't the only thing in store for some of us..."

Taeron grunted. "What do you mean?"

I shook my head with a sigh. "For the Void Demon slaves there was pit fighting that a lot of us were forced to do, me included." I said looking down to my hands. For some moments I stared at them seeing bright blue blood coating them, then it went away when I blinked. "Every month several dozen Void Demons of various ages were tossed into a pit walled by magic where only the last one standing would get to leave it. Occasionally the cultists who controlled the tower would do a surprise pit fight. I won every pit fight I was in and after each victory was a trip to the torture chamber. There they would dismember me with various tools or spells.

"For six years that went on. Eventually me and some slaves I lived in the same cell with came up with an escape plan, but it failed. I figured out the weakness of the binding collars put onto the Void Demons that sealed their powers. Then went through the place killing cultists to free other slaves. I started a slave revolt that got us free, though not everyone survived that battle."

"Do you know what happened to Ryan, Jack, or Kayla after the slave revolt?"

"No idea." I lied. "Me and another redhead fell from the tower into the ocean so I didn't see what happened to them."

Taeron nodded accepting my explanation. "What happened once you were outside the tower?"

"The other redhead, Erza, and I ended up on a beach somewhere. I went to look for food before running into Drake's team from Blue Diamond. Then Qrow offered me a place in Phantom Lord and I accepted working to be his apprentice. I stayed with that guild for years until Joining Fairy Tail recently."

"That's not all. Is it?" He noted with a slight nod of his head.

"Correct." I commented holding up a hand with my thumb and middle finger stretched out. Seconds later a chain with a medallion materialized in a flash of gold light. Overall it was like a necklace but the item that hung from the silver chain was not a normal piece of jewelry. The item attached was a fanged ruby skull with two blades crossed behind it, the symbol of the Magic Council Executioners. Each of these was magically bound to the Executioner who it was issued to.

Taeron'e eyes widened considerably. "You're a Magic Council Executioner?!" He said shocked.

I nodded. "I have been since a year after joining Phantom Lord, which makes seven years. I am one of their two best along with another Void Demon."

He closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. "I am not pleased that you became one of them." There was a clear tone of disappointment in his voice as well as a sense of hostility on the last word.

"The choice to become an Executioner was mine alone, Taeron." I said somewhat forcefully narrowing my eyes onto the half human at that time the necklace vanished in a flash of light. "I could have refused the offer that Magic Councilor Yajima gave me. I didn't because I am a demon with a natural killing instinct that was honed over years of pit fighting. Killing and fighting are in my blood, so there is no way I can be a normal like I once was."

Taeron's eyes opened showing a measure of anger in them, otherwise he appeared calm. "There is no need for Executioners, dark mages can be reasoned with." He growled leaning forwards a bit.

"Reasoned with?!" I hissed standing up to walk over to his desk. Once in front of it I glared at him. "They cannot be talked to like some distraught child!" I added with a growl grabbing onto the edges of his desk next to the stacks of papers. "The only reasons that matter to them are their own! Have you looked into the eyes of a monster who kills on a whim? Takes pleasure in torturing others? Enjoys the total control of another that comes with slavery?"

Power rolled off his form suddenly as he stood up, eyes ablaze with restrained fury. "I have seen that evil before!" He shouted. It was clear in his eyes that there was something more to this than anger. "I never want to see it again." He added with a growl.

My gaze narrowed a little as I searched his hardened eyes. They shined with a nearly hidden inner fire. It raged violently similarly to a pot of boiling oil or a fire suddenly fed potent fuel. "Did you see your family killed while you were helpless to stop it?" At that his jaw clenched and more magic poured from him. The raging fire in his eyes becoming more evident. "Those who enjoy things like that need to be put down like rabid dogs or pests."

"Fighting and killing is wrong, even for self defense." Taeron retorted. I remembered the only time he talked about self defense when I was little. That talk occurred several months before the attack on Gruen. He wasn't exactly happy to talk about it, but noted that if you are given no choice fight to defend yourself and avoid killing if at all possible. "Anyone can be steered from evil if taught early."

I let power freely cascade out from my form saturating the air. My reserves of power vastly outclassed his causing the air around us to rumble audibly. "Pacifism kills!" I snarled showing fangs. My body had a visible violet glow to it. "Someone has to bloody their hands or there will be bodies lining the streets!"

His body shuddered slightly. "That makes you just as evil as they are!" He yelled at me while his muscles strained, holding himself from lashing out physically.

I stayed still then I let go of the reigns to my blood lust, so to speak. Unlike a lot of Executioners I am able to, mostly, conceal the aura of blood lust that surrounds us like an ominous cloud. The only times I did not restrain that aura was when I was out on assignments killing dark mages, void cultists, holy crusaders, or some S-class beast. The moment if flooded the room Taeron's face faltered. As if physically struck the half human pulled back coughing like he was choking. Fear filled his eyes instead of the roiling hate that had been in them moments ago. "At least I know how to use my instincts to protect others." It felt like hours passed as he tried to get breath in his lungs, seemingly barely able to do so. Sweat rolled down his face in steady beads. I closed my eyes slowly reeling in the blood lust and power I had been exuding. At the same time I felt my anger recede as well.

I could hear Taeron taking gasping breaths to put air into his lungs. It seemed he was harmed a bit from the power and or blood lust that many have said is palpable. As he recovered falling into his chair I sensed the room for the barrier. The poor magic barrier was barely together, and any more power from me would have shattered it completely. With a sigh I brought out power again but in a lessor amount, channeling it to the barrier. The void energy was accepted into the already active barrier helping to patch up most of the cracks I could feel. After I finished that I looked at one of my father figures seeing that he had somewhat recovered. Sweat still clung to his form though his breathing was more normal.

Tension hung in the air between us like a thick fog. "I'm not looking for your acceptance that I am an Executioner. All I want is that you respect my choice of jobs, nothing more." I hoped that would not spark another argument after the one we just had.

I watched him for some time as he mulled it over. "Very well." He grunted. "I will respect your choice of employment, but I am not happy about it."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Would you be willing to meet some friends of mine?"

Taeron's features relaxed considerably at the change of topic. "I would like to."

With that I led the way out of the office to the front yard where the orphans were still largely gathered around the others of Team Natsu. Erza's gaze shifted to me and she smiled. Natsu and Gray seemed to be with the boys while Lucy and Eraz had the girls around them. Taeron and I walked over to Erza and Lucy with Raz reaching over to grab something. In one paw the lizardlisk had grabbed both Natsu and Gray then set them down onto the ground.

"The blond celestial mage is Lucy." I said pointing to her. She smiled and stuck out a hand for Taeron to shake, which he did.

"It's nice to meet one of Aether's father figures." Lucy said as Taeron released his grip.

"Next are Natsu and Gray." I said turning to them. Both were in each others face growling. "Can you idiots not fight for once?" I muttered then smacked them both on the head. Both males grumbled rubbing their heads.

"I've heard of both of you." Taeron said with a nod to them. "Salamander and the stripping Ice-make mage."

"I am Raz, a lizardlisk that Aether raised." Raz commented so I turned to him. The reptile was standing off to the side with the cat girl on his back and the scaled one as well. "Like the two idiots butting heads I am a mage of Fairy Tail, though I may be the first magical animal who is a member."

"Don't forget about me!" A somewhat high pitched voice yelled before a flying blue object came into view. Happy the Exceed flew over to us then landed on Raz's snout. "I am also a member of Fairy Tail!" He said while raising a paw into the air.

"That is Natsu's buddy Happy, a magical talking cat." I supplied turning to face Erza.

Erza extended a hand to Taeron who took it. The redhead glanced at me then looked to Taeron. "I am Erza Scarlet, and Aether's girlfriend."

"That would explain why I smelled you on War Maiden." The dragon girl said from atop Raz's form just behind his head. "But why did Lucy say 'cuddling'?"

"We didn't know if you knew about relationships or not." I said getting a nod from her.

"Neema was told about some of that from her dragon parent, but not all of it." Taeron said gesturing to the dragon girl.

"There is something else you should know Taeron." I paused making sure his focus was on me. "I-" I started speaking right as something slammed into me. Whatever it was knocked the wind out of me as well as to the ground, it was shortly followed by two more impacts. I coughed a few times trying to get air back into my lungs.

"Got you!" A young girl's voice commented. I snapped my eyes open to see Zara hugging my chest while two other heads of blue and crimson hair could be seen lower around my waist and legs.

"Girls?!" I spoke surprised. Wasn't Mira supposed to be looking after them? "What are you doing here?" The three of them hugged me tightly.

"They were insistent about coming here after I told them where you went." Gajeel's voice said from the side. Looking up Lucy stepped aside so the Dragonslayer could walk up next to Raz. "I came here for a job and found them on the train I took."

"That explains how they got here." I commented idly letting my head fall back to the ground. From this angle I could see up Erza's skirt revealing lacy red panties. The redhead didn't move at all, nor gave any indication that she knew I could see up her underwear. I turned my head a bit to face Taeron whom nearly stood over me. "As I was about to say...I am the mother of these three." I said patting each girl hugging me on the head.

"I..." Taeron paused looking at each girl briefly then back to me. "I never would have guessed you'd be a mother already."

"Wasn't exactly by choice, though I am happy about it now." I supplied sitting up.

"Ivy." Erza said as the middle girl let go of my legs to look at her. She got up and went over to the redhead before getting picked up. She giggled hugging Erza enthusiastically.

With my legs free I managed to stand up picking up Zara while Rias stood next to me. "What was the job you picked Gajeel?"

"This." He said holding out a job sheet. It was a request to investigate what crashed into the mountains not far from Gruen. The payment was a little unusual at 300,000 jewels. However the description explained why that was the case. That read: "A large object appeared in the sky with a violet explosion and golden glow before crashing into the mountains west of Gruen. There is a possibility of Void's Saw activity near the crash site or other bandits. Any information about the object will be appreciated. Inform Jarok Udina in Gruen of your findings."

"I see." I commented. "Do you know when this happened Taeron?"

"Three days ago that explosion happened in the sky." He answered.

I looked to the west where forest stood between us and the nearby mountains. Then I extended my senses to see what was over in that direction. Most of what I felt was largely animals with the occasional bit of void touched metal. Following that led to a very large gathering of void touched metal. Being an Executioner for so long has let me see what happens to metal when touched or soaked by void energy. That process leaves a particular mark on metals of all kinds. "I can sense the crash site from here."

"What do you sense?" Raz asked.

I didn't sense any demons in that area, though I could sense a gathering of something else. "Void's Saw isn't there but I sense something else. A collection of things."

"Bandits most likely." Erza noted.

At least this would be an easy fight if it came to that. The only problem at the moment was what to do with the girls. I had told them to stay at Fairy Tail yet they had sneaked onto a train to get to me. I took a deep breath then let it out slowly. "Do you want to come with us when we look at the crash site girls?" Taeron's eyes widened a little in surprise while the girls focused their gazes towards the ground for a few seconds. "The area we are going to may not be the safest place. Knowing that do you want to come with us or stay here under Taeron's watch?"

"We want to go with." Rias spoke hugging my legs.

"Zara, Ivy. Do you two agree with your older sister? There is nothing wrong in not wanting to go with." I said once again generating silence.

A sad look crossed Zara's features. "We don't want to loose you mama." The little girl's voice faltered slightly at the end. She buried her head into my chest and hugging tightly once again.

I hugged her comfortingly petting her hair gently. Her statement suggested that their foster family had been killed and they survived. That scenario explained the holes in their clothing and why those were dirty. Someone had discovered the girls they were raising were mine, but how? That information was classified and only a handful of Council members knew where they lived. It was something to look into later with Cobra. "Let's go then." I commented starting to walk off in the direction of the crash site. The others quickly followed and I stopped briefly to pick up Rias with my right arm.

"Shouldn't Mira have gotten you girls some new cloths?" Erza spoke as she walked up to my left. Ivy was happy as can be with a smile being held in Erza's arms.

Rias shook her head no. "We helped with the building instead."

I chuckled right before a small flare of magic materialized. Gajeel grumbled something under his breath and tossed an object to Lucy. She yelped in surprise but caught it. The magic came from the Iron Dragonslayer's communication lacrima. I nodded to the orb in Lucy's hands before said mage channeled some magic into it.

"Lucy?" Mira's voice echoed confusion from the orb, and on it her face also showed that. "Is Aether with you?"

"She can hear you." Lucy replied as we continued to walk slowly.

Mira took in a breath and let it out slowly. "I don't know where your daughters are." Zara took her head from my chest to look at the orb in Lucy's hands and began giggling, soon joined in by Rias.

"They found their way to me with Gajeel." I explained. "Did you manage to get the other items for my girls?"

"We've been so busy repairing the guild that I forgot." Mira replied sadly.

"It was fun to help!" Ivy commented with a cheery tone.

I smiled a little. "I'll get the girls some new cloths then get the other stuff when we get back." I said before seeing Mira's head nod and the connection close, revealing the light blue color of the magic crystal. Lucy handed it back to Gajeel whom put it away in his shoulder bag. From there we continued on seeing zero animals on our path. Though with two dragonslayers and a giant Lizardlisk they would have reason to hide.

"It's beautiful here." Lucy commented idly looking around the forest. Indeed the vibrant green of the plant life made this forest incredible to walk through, along with the small bushes of various colors from red to pink. Without warning I sensed something that wasn't human. Looking up into the trees ahead of us a giant cat with two tails and quills on its back rested on several thick branches.

"What is that?" Zara asked pointing in the direction I was looking.

The void cat overall was large being comparable in size to Raz. It opened its eyes and turned its head to look at us. "That is a Klyrix."

"What is one this size doing outside the Void?" Gajeel remarked as the group came to a stop watching the void cat as it watched us curiously.

"That is a good question." I said looking over the Klyrix carefully. A number of claw marks dotted its frame that were visible in the sunlight on it. With the size of it and those claw marks this Klyrix was certainly old enough to have the ability to teleport into and out of the Void. It yawned showing razor sharp teeth capable of biting through most armor with ease. Overall it was a dusty red color like red clay with the claw scars darker.

"Are these Klyrix aggressive?" Lucy asked with a certain measure of fear in her voice.

"Depends." I said as the void cat climbed down the tree to sit at its base. "In most cases Klyrix are not aggressive except to outsiders in the Void. Otherwise they are like any large cat of this world." With both tails the Klyrix sketched something into the ground.

" _Looters thinned. Some took things._ " Was the words carved into the earth. Then with one paw it pointed behind it and carved something else. " _Woman injured, lots of blood._ "

"I can smell the blood from here." Gajeel commented taking the lead. His pace was quick and full of purpose. The Klyrix vanished in a flash of purple light and our group hurried. Shortly after passing the tree the void cat had been in pieces of void charred metal came into view.

"Dead a head of us." I commented seeing a path of destruction caused by something very large and armored. At first the metal pieces were small things like a short blade, but quickly grew in size until an artificial clearing. In this spot a dozen trees had been pushed over and crushed by a large metal object that seemed familiar to me. I set both girls down before walking over to inspect the wreckage of the thing. It looked like a fighter jet yet there were two legs coming from the underside along with stubs that seemed to be for something. Scanning the edges of the crash site one large metal arm rested with a torpedo looking thing. In the trees a little before this metal hulk was the other metal looking arm.

"What is this thing?" Gray asked as he climbed up the burnt wreckage towards the head of the plane part. Once he got up there silence followed except the small crunches of the others stepping on metal bits. "This compartment is empty."

"Considering the blood trail I'm not surprised." Raz remarked going to the north part of the clearing. Over there was several bodies of thugs torn to shreds by large fangs and claws. The had met their end from the Klyrix that greeted us no doubt. "One of the scents is that of a female. It's not a fully human scent."

"That must mean the woman is half human." Erza noted with Ivy looking around in the redhead's arms still. "Can you tell what the other part of her is?"

The lizarlisk shook his head. "I have no idea what the other part of her scent is."

"It looks like a bird." Zara commented idly.

I glanced over my shoulder to see her looking over the main hunk of metal for the wreck. "It does kind of, though I think I know what this is."

"You know what this is?" Gray said skeptically from his seated position on the edge of the nose.

I ignored him and sure enough this was the nose of a fighter plane and the pilot's cockpit. Inside blood had been splashed onto the sides along with a small dent that looked like a body. On the floor next to two pedals rested a cracked helmet similar to a motorcycle helmet. The front visor was shattered with bits of glass scattered about the floor. "The crash was hard, but what shot this plane down?" I said aloud before jumping down to the ground.

"We've got all we can from here." Gajeel said and I nodded. "Time to find this injured woman the Klyrix spoke of." With that he once again walked off towards the north.

I closed my eyes then knelt down placing a hand to the forest floor. Then I released some magic to create a barrier around the crash site to block out any other visitors besides us. "Stay close to me girls."

"Okay!" Rias and Zara said at the same time then coming to me as I followed the others. A trail of blood and several more broken bodies led the way to a unnatural path through the forest. From how half hazard the edges of the path through tall grass and bushes were the bandits did only what was barely needed, and nothing else. For some time we traveled down the path in two lines with little room to move sideways or past the others. Something snapped in the distance and an object soared at me.

With inhuman speed I grabbed the object before it hit me. Said object was a normal arrow of wood with a serrated metal point containing no magic. Someone had set up a trap to fire an arrow, or someone did use a weapon against me. The arrow seemed to be intended for human targets if the serrated edge was anything to by, not demons with regeneration. I crushed the arrow then looked up and ahead of us. At the mouth of a cave in the distance was wooden fortifications that looked rushed.

The wooden walls were carved from tree trunks of the nearby area. Two towers stood at the corners of the outer walls in front of the cave. On one of the towers I saw movement and another arrow whizzed past my head to hit a tree. Ivy screamed at the same time Lucy ducked with her hands on her head to protect it. With a thought I conjured a Void Bow into my right hand.

"What is going on?" Rias asked as she held onto one of my legs while hiding behind me.

I smirked. "Someone challenged us to a fight." I answered pulling the string back and letting a void arrow fly in one swift movement. It raced past Gray's neck to explode on the outer wall around the cave mouth ahead of us. Bright violet flames splashed from the point of impact onto the wood. Screams of men echoed from the fortifications as they ran around. The void fire quickly ate away the wood turning it to ash before burning some of the bandits as well.

Gajeel glanced over his shoulder to me. "Challenging you is suicide." He noted before running at the bandit's fortifications. Once free of the tree cover he jumped into the air and sent an arm forward transforming it into a club that sent chunks of wood and several people flying. A horde of bandits raced out from the cave like a tidal wave of ants from an ant hive. At this Gray and Natsu charged into the fray for their share of fun.

"Should we let the guys do all the work?" Lucy asked stepping out to the clearing first then Erza and me with Rias and Zara at my heels.

"Might as well or they will be fighting each other on the way back." I said right as a large explosion rocked the ground sending bits of rock flying into the air.

"They'll do that anyway." Lucy grumbled as the chaos in front of us died down quickly with the guys going nuts. However that left me wondering...Where did Raz go? Without warning something crashed into the ground between us and the guys. Large bits of rock went soaring high along with a reptilian growl. With a roar the dust cloud cleared to show Raz with some battle damage to his scales and fire erupting from his form.

The lizardlisk rolled to the side avoiding a downward strike that also rocked the ground from a giant demonic creature that vaguely resembled a bat. Though this was larger than a human by a size or two and had two arms and legs with wings on the back. It screeched in anger pulling a fist out from the ground just as a scaled paw slammed into the demonic bat. It was launched off its clawed feet into the air.

I smirked seeing it come towards me. "How kind of you to invite us to the fight Raz." I commented stepping forwards to get some distance between me and the two girls that had been at my feet. Once close enough I dissolved the void bow and threw a punch at the demonic bat left handed. My fist hit flesh hard, breaking numerous bones that cracked audibly. Blood splattered out form the bat's fanged maw at the same time it flew into the mountainside in the distance. The fighting stopped at the impact of the demon bat being embedded into solid rock.

"Looks like the fight is over." Erza said before she and Lucy came up to me. From there we went to the guys whom had stopped fighting the bandits. Zara and Rias followed closely before climbing onto Raz's back. That was probably one of the safer places for them to be rather than at my feet where I could hit them by accident. At the ruined fortifications a few conscious and relatively uninjured bandits sat on their knees with hands on their heads.

"Did you bandits capture a female from the nearby wreckage?" I asked one of the bandits whom looked up with a glare. That quickly transformed to terror after a flash of recognition.

The burly man started sweating and trembling a little. "We found a wounded female and took her into the cave. We treated her wounds as best we could." He answered pointing in the direction of said cave. "Are you going to kill me?"

I fixed him with a cold look. "If I was going to kill you you'd be dead already." I replied heading into the cave he mentioned. Inside was crude housing that had sustained some fire damage from something that wasn't void related. Most of it was burnt and soot stained the ceiling of the cave far above me. It was straight forward until a large room with three off shoots that went north, west, and south. Sensing the cave let me feel the odd one out among the people here in the south tunnel. It was another straight one that ended in a make shift jail, and in one of the cells was a woman with messy purple hair that may have been tied into some form of bun at one point. On her form was short shorts of dull gray and boots that extended up to nearly the shorts also matching color. Her top was covered by a blood soaked jacket that was open and previously white in color. Another shirt could be seen just barely that was red either from blood or just the color it was.

"This is the one I smelled earlier." Gajeel remarked as he came to stop next to me.

I nodded to him then went to the bars and grabbed hold of them, next to the lock. At that moment the female's eyes opened wearily focusing on me. With one arm I tore the metal bars from the floor and ceiling to toss them to the side. Her eyes watched in shock with something else in them I couldn't quite place. She struggled to sit up but did so after a minute.

"What are you?" The female said keeping her eyes on me for the most part, though they flicked to Gajeel as well.

"Someone who has come to save you." I supplied walking up and holding out a hand. "And I'm not human." I added waiting for her to grab the offered hand.

She grabbed it and I pulled the woman to her feet carefully, so I wouldn't make any injures to her arms worse if she had any. "You look human though." She commented then I started leading her out.

"I do now, but I do have a non-human form." I supplied walking at a pace slower than my usual. Normally I did not like to walk slow, but for injured or older people with me I do.

Gajeel snorted. "Not to mention you can shape shift."

I smirked. "There is that too." A few minutes later we exited the cave to sunlight. Gray and Natsu were clonked out on the ground with giant welts on their heads and a fuming Erza standing above them. Next to her was Ivy whom cradled an arm carefully. Through one of the holes on the sleeve of her left arm I saw a small line of blood from a fresh wound. "What happened?"

"They were fighting and Erza attacked them after Ivy got hit." Rias supplied running up to hug me.

Erza looked up to me and most of her anger seemed to dissolve on the spot, and a smile graced her lips. "I punished them for misbehaving, though Ivy was injured by a stray attack."

I turned to the purple haired woman. "Can yo-" I stopped mid sentence as something impacted with the side of my ribs. I stumbled but didn't feel any damage. Looking down the tank top was a little singed and smoking but otherwise fine. A rifle materialized at my command and fired one round. The bullet soared with cackling lightning into the trees from where I thought the attack had come. After vanishing into the trees silence followed then a pillar of electricity roared going high above the treeline along with a barely audible scream.

"Are you alright?" The woman whose hand I held asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, just caught me off guard." I let go of her hand and sensed the area around the cave. I picked up dozens of magic signatures, far greater than the bandits who did not use magic. "We have company in large numbers."

"How many?" Lucy asked one again sounding a little fearful.

"Dozens of foes." I supplied right as a horde of people came out of the forest near where I had fired the rifle. The people that ran out for the forest were all human and dressed in a form of military uniform that was dull gold with a symbol at the chest. That symbol was a all to familiar being what I am. The symbol is an upside down cross in front of two crosses at 45 degree angles and those were in front of the image of a setting sun.

"Southern Cross!" Erza hissed in anger focusing on the large group of soldiers.

"There she is!" One of the men yelled pointing a sword that glowed gold at me. "Take that demon's head!" With that the Southern Cross soldiers once again rushed forwards.

The rifle floating next to me vanished. I turned to see Lucy standing shocked at the number of people. "Lucy." I said getting her to look at me. "I'm curious about your combat ability, so why don't you demonstrate that for me?"

"AGAINST SO MANY?!" She shouts but I give her a deadpan stare.

"You won't be fighting alone." I pointed to the collection of Southern Cross soldiers. Within moments of that Raz barreled into their lines tossing them aside with ease while slicing them into mince meat with his front claws. Some of the soldiers went around to strike him in the back, but Raz slammed his tail into the ground causing a shock wave of fire to erupt outwards. Those unlucky enough to be caught in that were set aflame and burned to death quickly.

"I have a bone to pick with them." Gajeel growled then raced into the fray attacking one lone guy who managed to hop on Raz's back.

Lucy took in a deep breath then let it out. "In that case I won't hold back!" She yelled grabbing a key from her belt. " **Open: Gate of the Golden Bull!** " From the golden gate that appeared came a mostly human looking spirit with obvious cow features that were horns, a short snout, and a cow tail. In his hands was a battle ax that nearly went up to his shoulders resting one end on the ground. "Smash them Taurus!" She added pointing to a group of Southern Cross soldiers heading our way.

"You will not harm my wooman!" Taurus shouted readying his ax then swinging it in front of him. A shock wave was sent from it throwing earth and soldiers around. Then while they were confused he charged in smashing them with his weapon. Watching the spirit I noticed that each hit was heavy, but not lethal. I never told them to kill the foot soldiers of Southern Cross so it was up to them if they want to take that step or not.

Meanwhile Gajeel and Raz worked side by side tearing the soldiers to pieces, staining the grass red as well as their forms. Despite those fighting now there was a number of soldiers left. Time to add some more fighters from our side. On that note I walked over a few steps to Gray and Natsu's forms.

"Get up and go help Erza you fools." I said getting groans in response as they sat up.

"Why should we help that monster?" Gray muttered looking away from me.

Natsu scratched the back of his head. "She can take care of all this by herself." He huffed also looking away from me, in the opposite direction as the ice mage.

"Everyone else is fighting the Southern Cross soldiers. Even Lucy is in the thick of it." I said noticing Gray jolt a little. In the following moment he looked around for Lucy and spotted her not to far away from Erza whom had a pile of unconscious soldiers near her that kept growing.

Gray gritted his teeth and muttered under his breath. "I'm coming." Then he took off running to aid Lucy on the far right side.

"You should follow his example Natsu." I commented and the fire Dragonslayer got on his feet inhumanly quick.

"I don't want to be like that Ice Princess!" He growled waving a hand in front of him.

I shook my head. "Who says you have to follow his steps exactly..." I muttered before fixing Natsu with a hard stare. "Go help Erza. Now." I said firmly getting him to sprint down the hill to where the remaining forces of Southern Cross was.

"What are they?" The injured woman asked with awe in her voice.

Glancing over my left shoulder I saw her entranced face at the chaos coming from my guild mates. "Unlike me they are all human except for the giant lizard." Her eyes quickly turned to me. "The only one like me is the other redhead, Erza Scarlet. She is half human like you."

"How do you know?"

I lightly tapped one of her pointed ears. "Humans don't have ears like yours, plus the lizardlisk could smell that from your blood."

"Is she okay?" A young voice commented. I looked down to the right to see Ivy trailed by her sisters closely. The tyke had one hand pointed at the purple haired woman next to me.

"Yeah..." She answered with a slight groan of pain. "The men that took me bandaged my wounds, though I'm pretty sore."

I looked over my daughters to examine their expressions about the carnage, both lethal and non-lethal, happening in front of them. They seemed to not be bothered by it watching with silent observation. I couldn't see any fear or shock in their eyes at the scene before them. "You girls have seen death before haven't you?"

They all looked down to the ground. "Our other parents were killed by evil people before auntie Cobra saved us." Rias answered.

I sighed. "That's unfortunate." I commented then knelt down so I was closer to their level. "I kill others for a living." I paused watching as their heads snapped to me. "I never wanted you three to get caught up in the blood and death that surrounds me. I wanted you to have as normal a life as possible, but I suppose that was too much to ask for." I sighed again closing my eyes. It was times like this that I wished the world worked the way you wanted it to. I know better than most that the world doesn't work that way. Even if you take every precaution possible there is still a chance it could go wrong.

"It's okay." Zara commented hugging me. She was followed by the other two. "You protect others by killing evil people."

My eyes snapped open in surprise. I stayed like that for about ten seconds then closed the three of them in a hug. As I held them I smiled even if they couldn't see it. "Yes." I said feeling a bit of pride well up in me. Those three were far more mature than I gave them credit for, though that had come at the expense of their innocence to a degree. They had seen the harder things in life and lost two people who loved them as their own children. "I do it so someone else doesn't have to."

"That's admirable of you." The woman commented from behind me.

I let go of my daughters then they let go of me so I could stand. Looking back over the area the Southern Cross soldiers had appeared awarded me with an interesting sight. Gray sat next to a pile of unconscious soldiers taller than him with his legs spread out along the ground. In his lap sat Lucy whom looked pretty tired with a few bruises on her arms that I could see. From the looks of it she was relaxing into Gray's chest taking the chance to rest.

A roar echoed from the woods drowning out all other sounds. Birds in the nearby trees raced away from a little before where the line of unconscious Southern Cross soldiers lie. The tree line a giant form bristling with void energy emerged. The beast in question was something like a giant wolf. Its fur glowed in shifting purple and black of the void and the eyes of it, all six, shined with blood lust. The beast lunged for Natsu who was closest biting into his body. The Dragonslayer in question was too shocked to do anything.

For several seconds the beast shook him violently before letting go with an alarmed yelp as fire erupted from Natsu's form. At that moment I charged at it shifting forms. The crazed beast went to take a bite out of Erza who was the next person to it. With all four arms I stopped the mouth from moving keeping the jaw open with effort. One pair held onto the top part of the jaw while the other pair held the bottom half in place. It was strong for something so large.

"Aether?!" Erza's voice ringed of surprise as I held the beast off at a stand still.

Once again I was not in human form but one similar to my Secondary Form that was my "Battle Form", a version of my secondary form covered in armor plating from head to tail tip. The major difference between my normal form and this one is that it has a snout made up of two solid pieces of armor plating. That snout has no eyes, though I could still see, and two small slots that function as nostrils at the tip. My ears are still the same but covered in a thin layer of armor still able to hear as well as if they weren't protected. The beast pushed me back though I retaliated by pushing back against it, keeping said creature where it was. This thing was far larger than Raz, dwarfing him by at least two sizes. "This is my Battle Form." I explained then put more pressure onto the parts of the beast's jaws I held. Without warning magic began to gather in its open maw.

At this close the blast of void magic would be particularly painful if not lethal, given that my head was largely at the center of its open jaw. Then a feline roar thundered from the air accompanied by a reptilian one at the same time. From either side Raz and the Klyrix from earlier appeared, tearing through the sides of the beast. Those attacks interrupted the beast's concentration.

Given that opportunity I pulled the creature toward me then threw it up with everything I had. It went high into the air leaving a trail of bright blue blood as it soared. While in the air I summoned two heavy three barreled turrets to unleash a flood of fire enchanted bullets onto the beast. Within seconds the two turrets unloaded more rounds than I cared to count. The result was a pile of molten flesh that hit the ground with a wet plop.

"Who the hell are you!?" Gray yelled so I turned around still holding the large turrets in both sets of arms. They were heavy enough that it would take two strong humans to hold just one, though I could hold two because of my four arms and superhuman strength. His face was hard as if judging me to be an enemy vastly stronger than himself.

"I'm not surprised by that action." I commented dismissing the two turrets. "As you know I am a Void Demon and this is my default battle form." I added then shifted form again to show the form Erza was familiar with. I towered over the others present at fourteen feet in height. However this form was not quite suited for some clothing, so my chest had bandages wrapped around it to hold and cover my breasts.

"I don't remember this form being that tall." Erza commented relaxed but looking over my form carefully.

I scratched the back of my head with one hand. "My secondary form is normally this tall though I can shrink it down to human size." I replied doing just that. Over several seconds my viewpoint shifted until it was more or less equal with them, along with the clothing I had on.

"So this is what you look like outside of human form?" Lucy asked walking up to stand next to Gray.

I nodded in reply. "Yes, this is what I look like outside of human form." I turned to Raz and the Klyrix and flashed them a grateful smile. "Thanks for helping out you two."

The Klyrix bowed its head while Raz nodded but a voice spoke from nearby. "I am glad that my Klyrix was able to provide assistance." From the side of the clearing near Gray and Lucy came a woman who was not human. I could sense it clearly and see it. Her hair was long going somewhere past her shoulders. Golden horns adorned her head that largely went to the side. On her shoulders were some form of ornate tattoo and on her form was a kimono, assuming that article of clothing could even be called that. It left hardly anything of her goddess like form to imagination, barely covering her breasts and ended almost mid thigh. To hold it in place was a large cloth belt which had a book tucked into it on her left side.

On instinct I shrouded my form with void energy and attacked the newcomer. Ignoring the protests of the others I threw a punch at the woman whom caught it in one hand with a grunt. She retaliated by throwing a void charged punch at me. I caught that in my other hand canceling out her own void magic with mine. Whoever this was used Voidslayer magic like I did, though I sensed something else as well.

"I do not wish to harm you." She spoke looking me square in the eyes. Her purple eyes were calm as she sounded though there was confidence in them too. She glanced down since my upper arms were occupied. I had transformed the other two arms into void blades and held them at the insides of her thighs just above the skin, so if I needed to I could slice open her legs to get the blood flowing violently. Her eyes shifted down for a few seconds then back up to mine. "Please remove your other arms."

"Humph." I moved my lower arms from those two vulnerable points slowly. Once they were where I couldn't cut her I changed them back to normal. "Old habits die hard." I commented releasing my grip on her fist with my upper right hand. She also released the grip on mine and we took a few steps back from each other. "What are you doing here and what is your name?"

My ears picked up movement coming to me and I felt heat along with it. With a groan I looked to my left to see Natsu rushing at me while bleeding a bit from the bite wound that was split between his arms, chest, and legs. The bleeding wasn't profuse but he would be feeling that in a while. Since my tail is fairly lengthy I used it to trip him then smacked his back with a little bit of void ice.

"That's cold!" Natsu hollered twitching before I removed my tail. The fool then pushed himself up slowly and glared at me. "Who are you?"

"Use your nose dumb ass." Gajeel grunted before socking Natsu in the face.

The pink haired Dragonslayer was too dazed to do anything for a few seconds, then shook his head sitting back up. He looked at me again and sniffed the air a few times. "Oh..."

"I am Sayla and my Klyrix is named Drex." The gold horned demon answered bringing my attention to her once again. "I was hunting the beast you slew and I wanted to investigate the nearby wreckage."

I nodded then we trekked back to the cave entrance where my daughters and the purple haired woman were at. Her eyes widened a bit in surprise upon seeing me. I smirked. "As I mentioned earlier I am not human and this proves it."

"My name is Mirage Farina Jenius." She held out a hand to me. "Sorry for not introducing myself earlier."

I took her extended hand in my lower left one. "No worries." I replied shaking her hand carefully then released it. "Let's get you to Gruen so you can rest Mirage."

"I want to stop at the wreckage on the way." Mirage said so I nodded seeing no harm in doing so. With that we made our way to the mentioned wreckage which hadn't been touched since I put up the barrier. The half human climbed up to rummage around in the cockpit.

"This is your Veritech isn't it?" At that silence reigned with Mirage quickly turning to face me with a shocked look.

"How do you know that?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

I smirked. "I know many things." She held her gaze for a bit then shook her head resuming her task. Two minutes later she climbed down with a metal box that had a number pad on it. She gestured forward with her free hand so the Klyrix Drex led the way followed by me, Raz with my daughters on his back, Lucy, Mirage, Sayla, and Erza next to Natsu and Gray at the back. Before reaching the city border I shifted back to human form and changed clothing in a flash to red shorts and a gray tube top.

The city guards drooled as I passed them and probably continued to do so with the other females that was among our group. Our first stop was the hospital where Mirage was examined. After half an hour she came out of the building with fresh bandages around her torso and a bottle of pain killers. The next stop was the inn that we were staying at, and conveniently enough Sayla was also staying there on another floor. The gold horned demon had agreed to let Mirage room with her for the time being.

I entered the building holding Ivy for once since Rias wanted Erza to hold her. The same lamia that greeted team Natsu before was positioned behind the welcome desk. She eyed me curiously as I approached. "Is it possible to add an airbed to the room Erza and I are renting, besides the one provided?"

She nodded. "That will be an extra fee to do that if you want."

I chuckled as Ivy shifted in my arms. She held onto me, though she seemed fascinated by the lamia. "That's okay." I commented. "The extra bed is for my daughters, with the one in my arms being one of three."

The lamia smiled brightly. "She's a cutie."

Ivy tilted her head to the side. "What are you?"

The clerk's tail came into view next to her right side. "I'm a lamia little one."

"Lamia?" Ivy repeated slowly.

Said non-human nodded. "Like you and your mother I am not human, though the upper part of my body looks human. However below my waist is the body of a snake."

"I see." Ivy commented. There was a pause with the clerk stretching her arms over her head. "You still look pretty."

The lamia briefly looked surprised then smiled again. "Thanks." She said extending a hand. Ivy reached for it getting her smaller hand encompassed by the lamia's larger one. "I'm sure you'll be like you mother when you get older." She released the grip then I backed up with Ivy waving goodbye.

"Time to get you girls some new cloths." I commented once outside where Raz stood with Zara on his back while Erza still held Rias in her arms. "And it would be a good idea to get you some cloths too Mirage."

The half human looked down at herself with a sigh. "These cloths are too bloodstained to use anymore." Mirage noted.

"That's an understatement." Gray commented.

Mirage turned to him then took a shocked step back. "What the hell?!"

"Why are you naked?" Ivy asked tilting her head to the side.

Raz let out a sigh then used his tail to smack the ice mage upside the head. "Get cloths on you fool!"

"Gray does that rather often." Erza said with a shrug as Gray moved to find his cloths. "It was part of his training to be an Ice Make mage. However he didn't stop doing it after the training."

Mirage shrugged. "It makes sense, but that is a strange habit to have."

I scanned Raz's form to see blood still on parts of his scales, largely towards the claws. "You need to clean that blood off Raz."

The lizardlisk glanced down at his front paws which had the most blood on them. "Right." He commented with a nod.

"Come on Zara." I said with her climbing down from the lizardlisk. I noticed Gajeel walking away with the reptile as Zara stopped next to me. "You four can follow if you want." The four in question didn't seem to move from their places as Erza, Mirage, and I started walking with Ivy and Zara. Each girl held one of my hands as we moved in the direction of the shopping district. The four of them choose to follow us with some space between the groups. It wasn't long before Lucy and Gray broke off going to one of the many magic shops in the city while Sayla continued to trail us for a large store. Natsu also broke off going in the direction of where a number of bars were located from what I remember.

The first thing near the entrance was a little cafe on the left taking up some space while the left had an entire floral section. That held numerous flowers of different types like red and orange roses or plants that I suspected came from the void. There were a few people and families I could see in the cafe area eating food, but otherwise the store wasn't visually crowded. I walked down the lane in front of us passing cards of some kind then small wooden containers. After that was another lane intersection where the lane we walked down was lined with toys for humans, though those could be for non-humans too. Most of the ones on the isle looked to be geared for boys with action figures among the displayed items and foam weapons.

At the next intersection I went right which led us to the part of the store with clothing. The lane had deposited us in the guys section where pants, shorts, and t-shirts designed for men were laid out. Glancing around to my right rewarded me with the boys section, which meant the girls section was to the left. Looking that way confirmed my suspicions with several photos of female models in cloths and a mannequin with a plain black bikini swimsuit on it. We reached the girl's section in short order since it was past the women's section.

"I'm going to look at the women's section." Mirage said and started walking.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping the half human. "Get what you want and I'll pay for it." She nodded then I removed my hand turning back around. I went up to one of the sections of kids cloths and glanced between Ivy and the displayed items. The ones I was looking at seemed to be the right size visually so I grabbed some of them and other clothing of the same size. Over the space of three minutes I had a pile of clothing in my hands. My daughters came over to investigate what I had. "I want you girls to try these in the changing rooms."

"Okay." They chirped accepting a handful of clothing each. Then they went to the changing rooms that were built into the wall.

Erza chuckled so I turned to my left as she shook her head a bit. "What you picked out was mostly pants and t-shirts in dark colors."

I face palmed. "That's what I tend to wear..." I trailed off with a sigh.

"You wear skirts sometimes." Erza noted as I heard rustling from the cloth blocking sight of the changing rooms. The first one to walk out was Zara who had on dark blue shorts and a forest green shirt. Next was Ivy who wore the only skirt in the mix of clothing I had gotten, which was gray in color that went to below her knees with a dark red shirt to finish off her choice. Rias had selected black pants and a matching black long sleeve shirt.

"What do you think girls?" I asked watching as the three of them looked down at their cloths for several moments then to me.

"Do you always wear dark colors mama?" Zara asked with a tilt of her head.

I shrugged. "Most of the time, since it helps me go unnoticed at night."

"I like it." Ivy commented with a smile on her lips. "Can we also get some brighter colors too?"

"Sure, sweetie." I said before focusing my attention to Rias who hadn't answered my question yet.

"These are a little tight, but okay." Rias said.

"We'll get you some cloths two sizes larger." I said then had them change back into the clothing they had one before, even if I didn't want them to wear those after today. Following that Erza and I split up to get clothing two sizes larger than I had first assumed. Keeping in mind of the fact they wanted brighter colors I got a large bundle making sure there was a mixture of bright and dark cloths for all three of them. I met back up with Erza whom had also picked out clothing and the girls at the changing rooms.

"This should help." Mirage commented from behind me. Turning around let me see a cart big enough to hold the mounds of cloths Erza and I had in our arms. In her left hand was the handles for a carry crate which had neatly folded clothing in it to the top.

"Thanks Mirage." I said placing my pile into the cart first then Erza's fell into it next. "Time to pay for these." I added guiding the cart back the way we came through the store.

"Kitties!" Ivy shouted running forwards to take a sharp left at one lane further than the one we walked down earlier.

I followed behind with a raised eyebrow to the lane she went down to discover more toys. However this section had a number of dolls and plenty of stuffed animals in bright colors from blue-black to neon green. The girl stared at a dark blue panther that was a row higher than her head. Ivy stood on her tip toes trying to reach it, but the toy was out of range. However Sayla made an appearance with her own box of clothing hanging off of one arm. She grabbed the large stuffed cat and handed it to Ivy who hugged the creature tightly with a content smile.

I took the opportunity to look over the gold horned demon. Since I wasn't in a combat situation I could take my time. As I had noticed earlier she was a practical goddess with globes of flesh on her chest that were larger than my own. My eyes stayed there for a time before drifting over the rest of her form. From here they looked so soft I just wanted to knead them. Without thinking about it I licked my lips at the thought.

"Like what you see?" Sayla said in a teasing tone.

I looked into her purple eyes to see amusement in them, knowing she had seen me lick my lips. "Why wouldn't I?" I replied with a smirk before catching sight of Rias and Zara stopping next to their sister. Their heads focused on the stuffed animal in Ivy's arms then to the shelf Sayla had gotten it from. From the look of it she had gotten the last dark blue panther. Since the other two seemed so intent on the stuffed felines I grabbed one for each of them: black panther for Rias and a tan lion for Zara. I nabbed a white tiger stuffed animal for myself seeing Sayla raise an eyebrow to that.

"I wanted the blue one." Rias pouted turning to look at the floor.

"They're out of the blue stuffed panthers Rias." Erza spoke up before kneeling in front of her. She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "However when the store has more your mother and I will get you one."

"Okay." Rias chirped sounding less down at the prospect of getting her own blue stuffed panther.

Zara held out the stuffed lion at me. "I want a wolf."

"Alright." I commented placing the lion back onto the shelf. Since the wolves were out of range I used telekinesis magic to get one off the shelf. It was a magic I used extensively when fighting groups of opponents. As soon as the white and gray wolf was within reach Zara grabbed it. "Do you girls have pajamas?"

"Burned to ashes." Ivy answered.

"Do you little ones have a preference to designs or colors?" Sayla said before picking up one of the cloths for the girls, examining the tag.

"Hot and cold weather ones." Zara commented getting a nod from Sayla.

"No one suits." Ivy added.

Sayla turned her gaze to Rias expectantly with a small smile. Silence hung in the air as Rias put a hand on her chin. "Simple designs are okay." Rias supplied.

Erza got a gleam in her eyes before vanishing in a red blur. Sayla let go of the cloth she had inspected and calmly walked out of the isle. Though I had to wonder why my lover had that look in her eyes. What was she so excited about?

"Why did she leave so fast?" Zara asked sounding as confused as I was.

I shrugged. "No idea." I answered looking to her. The large wolf was almost as big as her. A minute passed by as the girls held and petted the stuffed animals in their hands, then Erza returned. She appeared in front of me starting Zara who jumped a little and threw a punch.

The redhead ignored the hit not loosing the gleam in her eyes. "These are for you girls!" She held out her hands that contained pajamas that were pink with a familiar symbol on them. It was the same symbol that adorned the pajamas Erza herself sleeps in.

I face palmed. "This is what you were excited about?" The Heart Kreuz symbol dotted the plain pink pajamas the redhead had in her hands. It was pretty much a child sized version of the one she had.

The girls tilted their heads looking at the pajamas Erza showed them. Thirty seconds or so passed by in silence before one of them broke it. "Is it comfortible?" Rias asked.

"Comfortable." Mirage corrected before I could.

Erza nodded her head. "It is!" She answered with enthusiasm.

"Is it warm in cold weather?" Ivy said.

"I believe the ones Erza grabbed are." Sayla said as she walked around the corner to the isle we occupied. In one hand was a basket with a bunch of cloths that I could tell were a mix of pajamas along the lines of what the girls wanted.

"Since you are so keen on this Erza they can have one pair each." I answered before Erza placed the pajamas she had in the cart. Then I felt something pushed to my chest. Looking down it was a copy of her pajamas. I brought my gaze to her with a raised eyebrow. "You got one for me too?"

"Of course." Erza commented. "You can't always sleep the way you do when we are out on jobs."

As much as that sounded annoying the redhead was right. "Alright." I sighed putting the final article of clothing into the now full shopping cart. I sensed Lucy entering the store before going to a part of the store we skipped on the far left side to us. Then she came our way. I waited for her to be close walking up behind us before speaking. "Hello Lucy."

Lucy yelped in surprise making the others turn to face her, besides Sayla who had been facing her direction. "You scared me!" The blond commented sounding embarrassed.

I glanced over my shoulder to see a dusting of red on Lucy's cheeks. I chuckled as she narrowed her eyes on me. "Just so you know what Sorcerer said about my sensing abilities wasn't exaggeration."

"Apparently not." She remarked then held up one of her hands. In that was three Heart Kreuz suitcases.

"Good thinking." I said reaching for the bags. Before I could grab them Lucy stepped back out of range, so I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going to buy these for you." Lucy explained. "You've got a lot in your cart as it is."

"True enough." I commented then the group made its way to the registers. After fifteen minutes we exited the shop going right for the hotel. Mirage had on her new clothing that consisted of a brown skirt that ended at her knees and a long sleeve shirt with a v-neck, which was purple in color. A shoulder bag hung off of one shoulder being at hip level. On her feet were gray tennis shoes with socks that went a little above her ankle. "Where did you leave Gray and Natsu?"

"They are-" Lucy started to answer but a nearby building exploded with ice shards peppering the street. Moments passed before Gray rolled into view then got up onto his feet, without any clothing on.

"Why is that human naked?" Sayla asked sounding a little puzzled.

I heard a smack and glanced to my left seeing Mirage have a hand over her face and sighing. "Can he keep cloths on?"

Within seconds Natsu charged out with a flaming fist aimed at his rival. Gray leaned to the side to avoiding the fist and struck Natsu in the head. The Dragonslayer took the hit and threw another punch at Gray whom caught it. Gray also threw a punch that Natsu caught, making a dead lock. They growled at each other trying to beat the other. Looking over the two of them let me see various nicks and scratches. That meant the two of them had been fighting again for some measure of time.

I summoned Galefury into one hand. " **Cascading Thunder.** " I said pointing the tip of the blade at both idiots. A beam of electricity went forth with the two of them so absorbed in their fight they didn't see it. It hit them seconds later shaking the ground a bit and causing some nearby to scream. When the smoke cleared there was a crater where the two of them were. I walked over to the crater's lip seeing both boys on their backs with sparking bodies. "Stop fighting and get some cloths on." I dismissed the weapon which also stopped the electricity sparking over the two.

"That...hurt." Natsu grumbled sitting up.

The ice wizard groaned then got up. He caught clothing that was thrown at him by someone. Ignoring that I waited for the two to get out of the crater then knelt down. Placing a hand flat onto the ground at the crater's edge I closed my eyes in concentration. Summoning power I began forming it into something solid. I felt over time the crater I made slowly fill up with new earth I was placing into it through Void nature manipulation. After what felt like ten minutes I opened my eyes to see how I'd done. The earth that filled in the crater was even with the paved stone of the street. Though it was nearly black in color versus the light gray of what was already there.

"Awesome Mama!" Ivy and Zara commented at the same time causing me to smile a bit.

"Thanks girls." I said getting up and continuing on to the hotel so we could drop off the new cloths. The rest of the walk to the hotel was uneventful with the boys behaving themselves as they trailed behind our group with Lucy just in front of them. My girls were awed by the hotel, except Ivy who had seen it earlier, and excited to be staying in the same room as Erza and I. Upon entering the room I let out a sigh of relief that the cleaning staff had come through, since I had no plans to explain to them what sex was yet.

"Where are we sleeping?" Ivy asked just as I spotted an airbed to the right side of the room before the entrance to the kitchenette.

"The airbed there." I said pointing to it.

"What if we have a nightmare?" Rias asked holding the stuffed animal in her arms a little tighter.

I was nervous about having one or all three of them in the same bed as me since I have nightmares. Sometimes lashing out at the first thing I feel that wasn't blankets. I didn't want to harm any of them and that was a possibility if they slept in the same bed as me...

"Aether." Erza whispered so I glanced to her. She had a pleading look in her eyes as she inclined her head slightly to my daughters.

Returning my gaze to the girls let me see their waiting faces. Taking a deep breath I closed my eyes and let it out slowly opening them. "You can sleep with me if Erza is alright with at."

"I am." Erza supplied getting smiles from the girls.

I placed the collected mess of three bags held in one hand on the main bed before looking out the door to the balcony. Golden orange light glowed through the doorway giving the ocean a beautiful look. "Are you girls hungry?"

"Yes!" They echoed at once.

I smiled a bit. "In that case change into some new cloths and hand me your old ones, I'm going to burn those."

"Why?" Zara said as she placed down the stuffed animal she had then began to take off her cloths followed by the other two.

"Your current cloths are beyond my skill to repair." I paused watching Erza as she made her way to my backpack at the foot of her luggage pile to place the pajamas she got for me in them. She must have known I was looking with the sway of her hips. "Then there is also the fact your blood has more or less soaked into the cloths, which is very difficult to get out." I finished glancing to the girls then back to Erza.

Erza walked back over swaying her hips, a knowing smirk on her face. Once at the bed she looked into each bag then handed them to the corresponding girl. "Pick one outfit to wear. We can pack the rest into the suitcases later."

"Okay." They chirped before burring their heads into said bags.

The redhead moved around to behind me, placing her chin on a shoulder and arms around my body. "There is more to burning their cloths than what you said isn't there?" She whispered into my ear.

"Yeah." I whispered back. "I don't want someone using their blood to get at me."

Erza hugged me tighter. "I can see that." It wasn't long before the girls were done changing into new cloths. The three of them went for shorts and t-shirts with Zara in light blue, Rias in tan brown, and Ivy wearing moss green.

"Let's go." I said getting three cheers from that. We exited the hotel with the three of them walking with Erza and I to the sunset lit streets. "Got any preference for food?" I asked as the five of us walked down a main street at a slow pace.

"Nope." Was the one word reply.

That opened up a lot of possibilities, though I had no idea what foods they either liked or didn't. About ten minutes or so later I started scanning the street we walked down for the signs of restaurants. Many of the ones I saw didn't quite seem by the name to be family places, or at least kid friendly. Some of the ones I saw were "Black Fairy Tavern", "Iron Club Steakhouse", "Dragonball Ice Cream", and "The Mouthful". Assuming the steakhouse had both steaks and metal to eat Gajeel would love that place. Interestingly enough I only saw males leaving and entering "The Mouthful". It had me wondering what was going on there. Ignoring those we continued on a little further until I saw a sign with "Eternity Cafe" on it. That sounded better than the others for a family meal. They followed me into the Eternity Cafe where quite a few people and families were already seated.

About half the people in here were void demons while the other part were humans with some level of magic power. The walls were decorated with paintings of various things, but they all had a theme. The back wall from the entrance had a painting of two beings. one was a massive dragon with purple scales. Its jaw was open with some sort of breath depicted covering a human figure. The second figure had a tail and dragon wings while still looking human, then the third figure was a small dragon. The other creature was not quite as massive in the artwork as the dragon but as easily recognizable. It was a silver-white and crimson colored nine tailed fox exhaling some sort of breath onto a human figure. Next to that human was another but with fox ears and nine tails.

The right side wall held a single long painting that depicted a giant fountain of white crystal filed with a glowing gold liquid. Grass and gold glowing plants rested around the edges of the fountain. On the left side of the crystal fountain was a human drinking from it with a hand. The next figure to it was a human with angel wings and the following figure was an angel with a halo, golden skin, and wings floating above the ground. Opposite that wall was another fountain, this time made of ivory bone, filled with a familiar looking substance. From the color and the way it looked that fountain held Void Blood and there was a human drinking from it. As with the other painting it had a background though the grass was dark red while violet glowing plants rested around the fountain. Next to that human was another with an explosion of void colored energy around it. The final figure had changed in form to something larger than human with similar body shape, only larger in proportion.

"Welcome to the Eternity Cafe." A cheerful voice said from near us so I turned my attention to its source. The source was simply put a cat girl, though this one was certainly more feline than human looking. The tops of her ears only reached the middle of my chest that were golden blond in color, matching the short pony tail hanging from behind her head. A nice looking purple shirt clung to her form snugly with a series of buttons undone at the top exposing some of her cleavage. Black jeans finished off her outfit with her feet looking like those of a cat ending in paws. "How many for your group?"

"Five." Erza answered before I could making the cat girl nod.

One hand scanned a piece of paper on the stand in front of her. That finger like the others I could see were thicker than human and ended in claws that I'm sure were extendable. "Any preferences to where you sit?"

"Windows." My girls said in unison getting another nod from the cat girl.

She grabbed a number of small booklets then turned around. "Follow me." she said walking off. I followed her while Erza walked in the back between me and the girls. The catgirl led us to the right side of the cafe where a number of booths were located with padded seats. However these seemed to be designed for those without human like legs. Glancing around let me see three lamias at one of the other booths on this side. The three of them all had the same blue color for their scales and were difference sizes. The largest of them took up an entire side while the other two sat opposite of that one. The smaller ones looked younger and smaller than the one they faced. "Here we are."

My daughters hopped onto the cushioned bench opposite of the one next to Erza and I. We sat down there with the redhead on the outside of our seat and me closer to the window. The hostess passed around the booklets she had brought to each of us. With that she left us to ourselves. It was then something occurred to me that should have earlier.

"Can you girls read?" I asked watching them carefully. They looked at each other for some time before looking to me.

"A little." Rias answered.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Being able to read a little bit is better than teaching them from scratch. "Can you write or do math?"

"Some." Ivy and Zara answered at the same time.

I turned my attention to the booklet that contained the menu. At least I had a starting point with teaching them about math and writing. From what I saw the menu had a range of foods from breakfast foods like omelets to burgers and pastas. At the top was a special note about food. With any order that contains meat I could have it raw being a Void Demon or have it cooked if I wanted. That note also let me know coffee was served carefully, and to the fully human patrons only. Alcohol was also on the menu for humans then a special type for the Void Demons that functions the same for us, though that substance is toxic to humans.

Sensing something moving slowly to us I tensed a little summoning a pistol into my left hand, which was concealed under the table. Turning to face my right awarded me with the sight of a fawn with a black suit over his chest and part of his legs. Around his waist was a belt with pouches and from one of those he got out a notepad and a pencil. I dismissed the weapon in my hand as his jade eyes glanced for a time then to the others.

"Any starters or drinks?" The fawn asked speaking with a smooth gentle voice.

"A large basket of tater tots, a platter of sausage coins, and do you have ginger cider?" I replied making him chuckle.

"A fan of ginger cider I take it?"

I nodded. "Very."

"I'll take a sausage platter as well and some tea." Erza replied.

The fawn turned his patient gaze to my daughters who appeared lost in the menu somewhere. "I think we'll need a little time to figure out what they want." I said getting a nod. He scribbled down our order then swiftly left, his hooves making next to no noise on the stone floor.

"Are you girls wanting something before the actual meal or just the dinner?" I asked as they looked at a menu in front of the three of them. They also glanced at each other before Zara pointed to an item on it.

"We want this." Zara said as I slid down the curve of the seats to be close enough to read their menu.

Once on Zara's right I saw what her finger was pointed at. "Crab cakes are an appetizer."

She tilted her head to the side looking at me. "What does that mean?"

"Appetizers are food you have to tide you over until the meal, kinda like a snack." I explained. "What else do you three want? And do you want the crab meat raw or cooked?"

"This soup." Rias said pointing to the lower part of the menu. On that part listed a number of different soups with the one she was pointing at being clam chowder.

"Pizza." Ivy commented. Nodding to her I flipped two pages of the menu to the section with pizza. She scanned over the items with a finger then stopped on one of them. It was a white sauce pizza with onions, garlic, salami, mushrooms, and mozzarella.

"I want a burger." Zara said so I went back a page finding the burger options. The youngest quickly zoomed in on it. For about thirty seconds or so she stared at it before placing a finger on her choice, it was cheese burger with red onions and mushrooms containing a side of salad or fries. With that done I scooted back over to my spot next to Erza.

"Do you know what you want love?" Erza asked leaning over to hug me, which also put her mouth next my ear.

"I know what I would like, but that would be a little awkward here." I whispered returning her hug.

She smiled shaking her head a little. "You are insatiable."

"So are you." I countered with a smirk. Erza snorted but kissed me briefly on the lips before sitting up. Then she turned her attention to the menu next to her as I did for the one at my spot. Scanning through it I found what I wanted to eat on the third page past the pizzas. It was a white sauce pasta with seafood meats, carrots, celery, strips of cabbage, green onions and red, then mushrooms and scallop. "You know your choice?"

Erza nodded. "I do."

The fawn returned carrying a large tray with things on it. He set down a large basket containing tater tots, two platters with coins of meat, a mug of tea and a small tea pot filled with hot water, then he placed down a glass mug filled with cider in front of me. "Have you ladies figured out what you want?"

"We have." I commented drawing the his attention. I waited to make sure he had the pencil and paper ready. I positioned the menu so he could read it. I pointed each of the items we wanted and the non-human wrote those down. "Can some of the crab cakes be cooked and raw?"

"Certainly, Miss Wade." He replied then walked off again. I heard him check in on the lamias two booths down from us before he went elsewhere. The appetizers didn't last long as we ate through them, finishing them all before the crab cakes arrived. Those suckers were about the size of a muffin and there was eight of them in total for the order. From the mixture of smells some were cooked while others were raw. Though my sense of smell isn't normally on par with a wolf's it is still better than a human's. I separated the crab cakes into two groups based on if they were cooked or not.

"Left four are cooked while the other four are raw." I said gesturing to the two separate groups of crab cakes on the platter they came on. I grabbed one of the raw crab cakes and broke it into pieces giving a piece to the girls saving the last two for Erza and I. I put some crab cake on a fork and held it up towards the redhead's face. Getting the hint she opened her mouth so that I could feed her the bite.

Erza bit down on the fork so I pulled it out watching as she chewed. Her expression was unreadable for a time then she swallowed. "It's good raw. I wonder what it is like cooked?"

"Is that so?" I mused consuming the remaining piece of raw crab cake. The meat was tender and easy to chew. It was definitely good with a bit of a salty taste to it, though I didn't mind at all. "You're right." with that I grabbed a raw crab cake for myself then brought my attention to the girls. The three of them took their time chewing as their faces showed contemplation. Moments later they swallowed in sync before looking at the other crab cakes.

"It's good." Rias said while her sisters nodded in agreement.

"Glad you like it." I commented then nabbed one of the cooked crab cakes. It was as good as the raw one with a bit of a different flavor from garlic and others spices. The meat was just as tender too. After that dinner went by fairly quickly with only a little bit of talking about Fairy Tail and how guilds functioned for my daughters who asked. No one bothered us though I could feel a number of eyes trained our way. An hour and a half later we left going back for the hotel. It was a quiet walk at night with most having retired for the night.

The moon shone clearly in the cloudless sky illuminating the roads the two us of us walked down. My arms were occupied with the sleeping forms of Ivy and Rias while Zara was held in one of Erza's arms. Her free hand held a bag containing two small boxes of left overs from the pizza and burger the girls ordered. For some time we walked slowly as to enjoy the warm night and each others company. However my mind wandered, plagued with thoughts of Southern Cross.

It was a massive organization that the Magic Council really couldn't take out thanks to their numerous connections to the rich and politically powerful, as well as their suspected out of country connections. Despite loosing so many to fighting the Executioners or Void's Saw they always seemed to have more. Granted the void cult has earned quite a lot of hate for their actions. Leaving no shortage of people who want to be rid of them. However why was there a group of Southern Cross soldiers near Gruen? There was no base for Void's Saw in the area or I would have sensed it earlier. Southern Cross didn't send out soldiers to somewhere without a reason. So why are they here?

Do they seek to establish a base in the city? If they did that it would give them access to the markets and vast amounts of magical items from lots of different places in the world. Though they couldn't outright claim it in the name of Southern Cross. Were they here to kill any Void Demons that left the city? Or did they simply want to raid it for treasures or the merchant ships that come and go? _So many questions and no answers!_ I groaned mentally.

"Is something on your mind?" Erza's voice held concern as she looked at me from several feet ahead.

"Southern Cross." I sighed. "It worries me that we encountered a group of their regular soldiers. They don't send forces somewhere without a reason."

"I know." Erza nodded. "They will have to reorganize if they want to do something. So we should relax and have fun for now." She said with a smile.

I chuckled. "We should." with that we continued walking under the moon light. "When did you realize you were attracted to women?"

Erza paused for a second or two in mid step then resumed walking. She cast me a thoughtful glance. "Some time after you injected blood into me." Erza said before shifting her head to look up at the moon. "Although I wasn't conscious for your fight with Jellal I have hazy memories of it."

"How?"

She shrugged. "The only thing I can think of is that some of those memories got copied to me through your blood. They gave me the feeling that he had betrayed us somehow. Several years after I joined Fairy Tail I realized that I loved you and not him."

"I'm glad." I commented with a smile. For the rest of the trip back to the hotel we were silent. The three girls were totally out cold as Erza and I got them out of their clothing and slipped on their new Heart Kreuz pajamas. After that we packed their other cloths into the suitcases, then went to bed ourselves.

The next four days passed quickly as we all stayed in Gruen to have fun and relax. My daughters rarely left my side during the day when we traveled the city to do things such as visiting an aquarium or run around on an obstacle course. The beach was full of kids, mostly with silver eyes, and their parents or some form of guardian near them. Rias, Ivy, and Zara played several games with others including tag and a version of volleyball where the objective was simply to keep the ball bouncing between the participants. There was one annoyance about the beach though...

"You have a crowd." Lucy commented from nearby where I was laying down. Slowly I opened my eyes seeing her to my left holding a drink in either hand.

Taking note of her comment I glanced in the other direction. Off to my right side in the distance was a group of males who were doing nothing but staring at me. Assuming I wasn't seeing things some of those guys in swim trunks had hearts in their eyes and others were drooling. I groaned returning my gaze skyward once again. All I was doing at the moment was reclining on a lounge chair in a bikini. It was one of the new ones I had gotten with Erza that was dark blue with gold fire designs on it.

"It took me a while to get through the line." Lucy said holding out one of the two drinks she held to me. It was a fruit cocktail of a tropical flavor with pineapples and such.

"Thanks." I said accepting the drink and taking a sip. It was chilled from ice cubes which felt good since I was in the sun. "How are the others?"

"Mirage and Erza are playing with the girls and other children. Sayla is near the guys keeping an eye on them while reading a book and-"

"Scram you fools!" A familiar reptilian voice boomed before a growl was issued.

Glancing to my right caused a smirk to form on my lips. The pack of guys who had been staring at me for some time fled in a hurry as Raz let out a cloud of fire in their direction. "Having fun Raz?"

The lizardlisk turned to me before walking over. "Surprisingly."

"That's good to hear. Have you seen Gajeel?"

Raz nodded. "Said he was going to talk to the guy who posted the job he took."

"I see." I commented feeling the presence of someone unexpected. "I know you're there Rainwoman."

Lucy looked at me confused then turned to the sound of movement. Looking over my right shoulder to the treeline I saw Juvia come out from behind a tree dressed in a solid blue bikini that fit her form well. She came over to stand next to me. "What are you doing here Juvia?" The blond asked gently with surprise.

"You here to spy on the stripper?" Raz spoke causing Juvia to jump and bury her crimson face into her hands. It was amazing she stayed standing as Raz went into a laughing fit. Without warning a violet flash occurred next to the reptile before Drex smacked his two tails into Raz's snout. Right after the hit Drex hissed then bolted away. With a growl Raz shook his head spotting where the Klyrix was running. "Get back here void cat!" He roared giving chase. It was surprising how fast he could run, though his flight speed was faster by far.

Lucy started laughing and I quickly joined her while still holding my drink upright. For nearly a minute we were that way, but I composed myself after that time. "I guess that what he means by fun."

"Juvia came here for more than him." The water mage spoke drawing my attention to her again. She had composed herself with a gentle yet serious expression. "Juvia wanted to see the city of your childhood."

I smiled at that. "Thanks for taking time to come here."

"Juvia!" Three voices shouted before my daughters tackled the water mage to the sand.

She landed with an "oof". Juvia giggled hugging the three girls that clung to her. "Hello girls." She said with a smile.

"Play with us!" Ria demanded cheerfully.

Shaking my head I sat up to face them. "You've been running around for the past three hours, and haven't spent that energy yet?"

Juvia waved a hand dismissively. "It's okay." She said as the girls let her go so she could get up. "Juvia also wants some time to play with them." I watched them drag her over to where the kids they had been playing with earlier waited. Once close enough one of the kids tossed up a ball, resuming their game of keeping it from landing.

"It is nice to get a break from playing with them." Mirage commented rotating her shoulder slowly. From the grimace on her face it was still sore from when her Veritech crashed in the forest. Like the rest of us the half human was wearing a swimsuit that was a purple bikini that did have the effect of drawing attention from males, though not as bad as Erza or me.

"Relaxing on the beach is worth it for seeing you in that alone." Erza commented as she walked over to my seat with a slight sway of her hips. Naturally my eyes tracked that movement and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw Mirage focusing on that as well. Ignoring that I shifted my eyes to her form, focusing on the black bikini shad had on.

I smirked the moment she stopped within arms reach of me. "I can say the same." Erza smirked back then leaned down taking a sip of my drink via the straw in it. "Hey!" I barked playfully pulling the glass back out of range.

She swallowed what she had gotten before pouting. "That's mean."

I grinned as an idea came to mind. "I'll share if you do something for me."

"And that is?" Erza asked with her gaze focused on my eyes still pouting.

With a hand I patted a thigh and laid back on the lounge chair. "Sit on my lap."

The pout vanished before she moved as a blur. Seconds later the chair creaked with added weight. Erza positioned herself so that her head was resting on my left shoulder while her legs intertwining with mine. As promised I moved the glass close to her so she could drink from it. Erza took another sip via the straw then I did after her. "We should do this more often."

"Agreed." I commented feeling very content with Erza relaxing on me. "Reminds me of four days ago."

Erza chuckled. "It does, though there was less clothing."

"That explains why you two weren't with us to explore the city that day." Lucy commented from the side, and from the corner of my eye I saw a noticeable red tint on her cheeks.

For some time we stayed like that with me keeping an eye on the girls from time to time. They played games for hours with Void Demon and some human children until the sun began to set. During that time Juvia stayed with them laughing and seemingly enjoying herself. She brought them back to me looking a little drained.

"That was fun, but Juvia is tired." The water mage said with her breathing a little quicker than normal.

"Okway." Zara spoke through a yawn.

I chuckled gently shaking Erza's shoulder with a hand. The redhead had fallen asleep at some point. She groaned a little before shifting to meet my gaze. "We should head back to the hotel." Erza nodded slowly before getting off me. Once on her feet she stretched her arms over head head.

"Mama..." Ivy said watching me.

"Hmm?"

"Can we go to a hot spring?"

"Gruen doesn't have hot springs, sweetheart." I answered seeing her look down towards the sand. "However..." I paused purposefully before Ivy brought her head up to look at me. "I know some places that have hot springs." I got off the chair then picked up Ivy without warning, causing the girl to yelp in surprise. She quickly hugged my form with a giggle. After that we trekked back to the hotel coming to a stop next to the doors.

"Was about to go fetch you." Gajeel grumbled rotating a shoulder slowly. Blood dotted his form again along with various burn marks in the form of weaponry, a type I knew too well.

"Ambushed?" I asked hugging Ivy to me a little tighter.

Gajeel grunted. "At Udina's mansion. It was a combat squad and they told me that there is an attack force near the city."

"Where?" I asked looking intently at the Dragonslayer.

"In the mountains preparing to march to Gruen." He answered.

I smirked. "We should pay them a visit Gajeel."

One metal eye brow rose. "Didn't they want you to take a break from Executioner work?"

"They did, though this threat from Southern Cross can't be ignored." I replied getting a nod from him. "I want you girls to listen to Erza and the others alright?

"Okay." The three of them chimed at the same time.

I smiled before brushing back some of Ivy's hear to kiss her forehead. "Shouldn't take more than a couple hours at most." I said putting Ivy down onto her feet. Once that was done I walked up to Gajeel placing a hand on one shoulder.

"By the way..." The Dragonslayer paused. "That bikini suits you."

I felt heat rise to my face staring at him slack jawed as I teleported us to the Void. Although I was used to hearing compliments such as that from my fans, I never paid those any mind. I wasn't used to getting compliments from others whose opinions matter to me on the other hand. That comment through me off of my intended destination. Instead of teleporting to a ridge overlooking a steep crag the two of us appeared high up in the air.

"What the hell!?" Gajeel barked looking down. "Aren't we supposed to be on solid ground?!"

His voice snapped me out of my stupor. There was still quite a bit of distance between us and the ground. "Your comment through me off!" I hissed in a flash donning the Blackwing Armor.

"Get your head straight and get us to the mountains!" He yelled holding onto me tightly.

 _Tell me something I don't know!_ I retorted in my head. If Southern Cross had an assault force in the mountains near Gruen there was only one place big enough for that: The valley in between the two mountain ranges northwest of the city. The valley was usually a plain of grassland with little tree coverage, and a few streams carrying mountain spring water. The outstretched wings of the armor slowed us down a little, giving me time to picture where I wanted to appear. "I've got an idea you're not gonna like."

"Spit it out." He growled then a serrated crimson and silver claymore materialized in the air in front of him. The Dragonslayer grabbed it quickly with his free hand.

"That will let you fall slowly by controlling wind." I said getting a nod. "However we're falling into their camp."

"Are you nuts?!"

I grinned pulling in the wings so we picked up falling speed. "Too late to ask that Metal-head!" I hollered teleporting us back to Earthland. As I had said the two of us appeared in the air above the clouds which blanketed the valley. Hopefully it wasn't raining or this could be bad. Once we got into the clouds I pried Gajeel's arm from my form then positioned myself to be diving. It worked granting me even more speed passing through the clouds moments later. Thankfully it wasn't raining so the ground was dry, which would make fighting easier. Seeing the ground approaching fast I used the armor's wings to momentarily slow my fall, re-positioning myself to land feet first.

Right as I landed I unleashed a Void Demon's Devastation that kept me from hurting myself while destroying a large area at the same time. Shouts and screams filled the air with broken bodies tossed around like rag dolls. The amount of magic signatures here surprised me a little. That number was somewhere around five hundred and a handful of others with significantly more power than the majority. Dust cleared quickly as forceful winds blew from another direction along with a boom. It seemed that Gajeel decided to land the way I did after all.

Thanks to that the cloud cover began to shift, letting orange light through. The first things that the sunlight landed upon was crimson and gold colored light armor bearing the Southern Cross logo proudly across the chest plates of those who were standing at the edge of the crater. The number of soldiers here was definitely enough to lay siege to Gruen and more than likely take it at cost. This was going to be a work out. I craned my neck to either side getting audible pops. One paladin reached for the sheathed sword at his hip with practiced speed. Before that blade could be drawn I flicked a wrist in that human's direction. Two swords materialized at the motion before impaling the Southern Cross paladin in the head and heart killing the man.

With a shift of my feet I launched forward grabbing the handles of both weapons from the corpse as it fell. Once free of the body I attacked the next target within range. One blade slashed diagonally across the chest from the right side down to the left following up with the sword in my right hand decapitating the paladin. Her helmeted head fall to the ground moments before her body did clanging loudly. Turning 180 degrees I lunged stabbing both swords into the next enemy. A sharp gasp left the man's mouth before I pulled out the blades and kicked his body away. I smirked seeing the armored body plow a path through the lines of Southern Cross soldiers.

"Slay the demon!" Someone hollered from nearby. At that command weapons became drawn with them rushing at me.

 _Time to show them why I am to be feared._ I noted in my head waiting for them to encircle me. That wish was granted shortly after the command to attack. The moment they were in melee range I spun in a circle summoning weapons that impaled enemies lethally. I stopped summoning weapons when there was three levels of swords in my targets. The spray of blades largely halted their advance, though it was too late for them. After a several second pause I moved the circle of weapons, making them rotate. The blades rotated horizontally slicing their impaled targets to a bloody spray. The crimson fluid rained down on those just outside of the range of my rotating buzz saw of blades. I extended the distance of the blades catching more in the grinder.

Wide eyes stared at me frozen as the blood dripped down armor from their slain companions. I sniffed the air once and smelled something that brought a sinister grin to my lips: fear. With that grin I unleashed the blood lust I normally restrained. The effect was immediate as some of the soldiers in my vision shook and one hunched over to throw up moments later. The weapons stopped spinning around me before gaining a violet glow to them. Three seconds after that glow made itself known among the three dozen weapons I flung them outwards in an arc from my position. Explosions of void energy rocked the ground destroying whatever was caught in the blast range.

While they reacted to the exploding blades I held up a hand in front of me with the palm facing out. **"Void Blast."** I said releasing a beam of energy from it. That beam of energy followed my hand that moved in a sideways arc. Smoke from destroyed tents and other items flew up into the air obscuring view of me and of the enemy. However it didn't matter to me due to my magic sensing ability. I stopped the beam when my arm reached my left side out straight. Sensing movement to my right I spun to my left and knelt at the same time. A large pistol materialized into my right hand moments before I pulled the trigger. The shot made a clean hole through the helmet of my attacker, his body standing still for a few seconds before collapsing.

Summoning another pistol into my other hand I went to work moving forward. I started cutting a path to the east shooting anyone that was in the way. Due to the firepower of the pistols all it took was one shot to punch through a soldier's light armor. Bodies fell one by one for each shot that roared from the weapons in my hands. At this point many of the ones within direct sight of my killing spree tried to run. However the wall of soldiers near them all trying to get a shot at me kept them in place.

Two soldiers a ways off picked up bows, readying an arrow each. It only took me a moment to judge the distance and aim the pistols. The guns fired just after the two pulled back the bowstring. One was hit in the neck severing the head from the body while the other took the bullet in the heart, letting out a death scream.

"Don't let fear control you!" Some one shouted above the noise of combat. "Numbers are on our side! We can win!" scanning the area around me I quickly found the owner of that voice. It was a man standing one a pile of crates above the ground level soldiers. His armor was thicker in appearance and with a brighter sheen than the grunts near me. Etchings lined the edges of the legs, arms, and shoulders. With a swift motion the man pulled out a claymore from his back with runes along the center. Those lit up golden along with the blade itself once it was over his head. **"Avo's Blessing: Acceleration."**

I raised an eyebrow watching as golden light fell onto the soldiers near me. Shortly after their bodies held a soft golden glow to them that held magic tied to it. I got an answer to my unspoken question without delay. After hearing that they charged at me, only moving far faster than they did before. It was only a slight surprise though it would not matter. Sensing movement behind me I stepped to the side letting a spear blade thrust past. With my left hand I grabbed the shaft and pulled forward. A surprised grunt sounded from the holder of the weapon before they followed the motion of my arm. Through the spear I moved the guy in front of me as a human shield.

A few seconds later he was stabbed with an array of weapons. Blood spilled out of a shocked mouth with eyes that dulled within moments. They stopped momentarily so I snapped my fingers. " **Void Geysers."** With that several rings of geysers erupted around me. Death claimed all around me for 100 meters. I let go of the remains of the spear glancing around.

" **Iron Dragon Roar!"** Gajeel's voice echoed from a ways off, then the cone of razor sharp metal bits surged forth. It cut through a section of ground and a group of clumped together soldiers. From the look of it across the wastes made by geysers he had a number of soldiers around him. I sprinted over towards him summoning a large spear with a serrated razor edge that was just shy of half the weapon's length. The blade's serrated edge claimed one side of it which was longer than the other side creating a sharp angled tip. From that tip the back side of the weapon had razor sharp straight edge. Down from that was thick leather wrapped around the handle that provided an excellent grip.

"This a little too easy." I commented swinging the blade up in a arc, slicing through a soldier behind Gajeel with ease.

The Dragonslayer looked at me with a grin. Blood coated his form, though I could tell it was not his blood staining black clothing. "Feels that way. Makes me wonder why this force was brought here."

"We can figure that out after they're all dead." I said getting a nod from him. The two of us once again charged into the fray killing anyone that got in our way. Blood drenched our forms from the growing body count which was at 254 so far. I decapitated another soldier then paused to see what the rest of them were doing. The remaining army was gathering into ranks along a line of hills above me and Gajeel. On that line of hills were rows of weapons and containers next to them with a magic crystal inside them visible through glass. Then one of those weapons flashed creating a small dust cloud at its base. The projectile raced for me at unexpected speeds. On quick reflex the weapon in my left hand sliced vertically up, forcing the object to split to either side of me. Seconds later a large explosion shook the ground blowing dirt, blood, and chunks of bodies up into the air to rain down.

Southern Cross had cannons with them? That was definitely equipment that could level Gruen fairly quickly if used right. Their cannons were powerful but had one major drawback: they have to charge balls of compressed magic that were generated by a fragile container attached to the piece of artillery. I aimed the tip of my weapon at one of the glass containers holding the crystal used to make the condensed balls of magic.

" **Iron Dragon Spears!"** Gajeel boomed holding one arm out with fingers pointing at the cannons. From his arms a hail of solid iron spears peppered into the right side of the line. One of those spears shattered the glass container of a charging engine causing it to explode violently. That caused a chain reaction in the line utterly destroying it. Screams echoed from the fires where the cannons had been signaling that a fair few had been caught in those explosions.

I sprinted into the clouds of smoke coming out the other side of them about ten seconds later. In front of me was a group of dirt stained soldiers huddled close together. Easy prey. I slashed the weapon in my hand horizontally to the right. **"Shadowphoenix Arc!"** I called unleashing a large arc of shadow magic at them. That arc cut through the majority of them and dissipated on the rear most soldiers, knocking them back five yards. With a thought my favorite assault rifle materialized next to me. I used that to finish off the four who survived the Shadowphoenix Spear's spell, putting a bullet into the head and heart of each one.

A beam of golden magic raced over my left shoulder dispelling the cloud of smoke from the feel of magic in the air. Ahead of me stood formations of more heavily armored soldiers in rugged looking gold and silver armor. They possessed much more magic being somewhere along the lines of Gray if not Natsu's current level of power. Each of the ones I could see looked to have some measure of combat experience, as my aura of blood lust wasn't making them falter.

One at the front raised a sword pointing at me. **"Heaven's Blast!"** From that sword came a beam of heavenly magic similar to the "void blast" spell.

Dashing to the left I dodged the beam of magic then thrust my weapon forward. **"Shadowphoeinx's Cry!"** The weapon's blade glowed with a mixture of fire blue and black shadow. Following that a wall of shadow flames rushed forth at my targets.

 **"Avo's Blessing: Barrier!"** One of the paladins called conjuring a protective bubble. The Shadowphoenix breath attack crashed into the barrier clinging to it for some time before dissipating.

"Your shadows can't breach this barrier, demon." One of them noted with confidence.

 _Then I'll just use something that isn't shadow based magic._ The Shadowphoenix Spear vanished and in place of it a rocket launcher appeared. Wasting little time I brought it up to my right shoulder, aimed, and fired. The rocket raced at the barrier then through it as if that wasn't present. The surprised looks on their faces were priceless moments before the rocket exploded. Bits of bloodied metal flew in all directions with a some cutting my form lightly, though my regeneration healed those minor cuts fast. With my left hand I pulled back at the handle then pushed it forward. That cocked the weapon allowing me to fire another magic conjured rocket. Seeing movement to the right I turned aiming at the next targets.

 **"Heaven's Cannon!"** A distinctly female voice called just before a projectile of holy magic fired from a conjured cannon surged to me.

I jumped up and front flipped seeing it collide with Gajeel who was sent into the trees not far from the paladins. While in the air I pulled the trigger sending the magical payload into the middle of the group that fired on me. They died but something came at me from the side. In a flash the Heaven's Wheel Armor was upon my form followed by a a rotating circle of swords. Those blades spun around me slicing the attack to pieces, dismantling it. Even so, three blades out of twenty were destroyed falling in pieces to the ground.

" **Heaven's Void Fire Dance."** I spoke sending the blades around me to crash into more groups of paladins, which exploded releasing splashes of void fire. I smirked hovering in the air as the void fire quickly ate away at the zealous paladins. Now all that remained were 42 out of the five hundred I had sensed two and a half hours ago with my landing. I lowered to the ground then rolled my shoulders, allowing myself to have a short break. It didn't make sense as to why such a force had gathered here. I walked around surveying the damaged camp. What was intact of the tents and bedding suggested that they had planed to be here for a time. One of the bed rolls was thick to protect from cold weather and rain or running water. In other parts next to carved wood walls rested barrels of food rations that had not been touched except for minor scorch marks on the outside.

Then there was some stone blocks and mortar elsewhere in sealed bags. It was like Southern Cross intended to make some sort of fort or base in this valley. I narrowed my eyes at a stack of stone blocks that was formed into a pyramid. Why would they go through the trouble of porting building materials when it would be easier for them to sack Gruen? Was this meant to be a staging ground for a larger force to take the city? Pain flared on my back as I went flying forward. I hit a partial stone wall demolishing what was there at impact. I stood up finding my attacker coming at me with a golden glowing warmace. Bright blue blood dripped from the spikes on the large orb that occupied the end of the weapon.

"You will die here demon!" The Paladin roared quickly closing in. That mace swung from the right to the left in an arc. I stepped back out of range and jumped into the air avoiding the spiked ball slamming into the ground, causing a small explosion of holy magic. Golden flames splashed on the ground near the impact site.

Hovering in the air a dozen rifles materialized floating next to the paladin. "Die." I said closing a hand into a fist. At the motion the weapons all fired at the same time splattering the ground with more blood. The golden glow on the weapon faded instantly after it fell from the body's grip. Now to clean up 41- no 28 more. I grinned a bit feeling that Gajeel had taken out a large group with a well placed breath attack.

Clanking armor brought my attention to the side where a column of soldiers ran towards me. _Do they know this makes it easier to kill them in one sitting?_ I mused internally at their stupidity. I inhaled aiming for them. **"Void Demon's Roar!"** With that I unleashed my breath attack obliterating the fools who lined up for me. Down the line the breath attack surged over the area Gajeel stood in. His signature laugh echoed in the air since the spell had granted him a thin protective layer of void magic rather than harming him.

Looking to the path of my breath attack I tried to see how many had been caught in it. As expected it left no evidence to say how many of the 28 had been in the spell. Again I sensed the area paying special attention to holy signatures. Without warning a sharp pain manifested in my head, causing me to wince. At the same time I saw myself change forms with my open eye. What the hell?

"You cannot hide your true form from me War Maiden." A voice commented behind me.

Instinctively I rolled forward ignoring the head pain and turned to face the speaker. At the same time I caught sight of pieces of armor on the ground belonging to the one I had been wearing. A frown tugged at my lips seeing it off my form. The Heaven's Wheel Armor was among a number of armors that I had not gotten around to enchanting so it could be worn with Secondary Form. Since I was forced to be in Secondary Form I dismissed the armor opting for a set of armor that I knew Erza did not have. In a flash the Dunestalker Armor materialized on my form.

The armor as the name implied granted me control of sand in vast quantities and wind. Like most of the armor I have it wasn't one that covered my body in full protection. Instead it was like the Flight Armor covering only small parts of my body. The armor was lightweight and relatively thin looking since it was designed to be breathable in a desert environment. Cloth wrapped around my chest cross crossing like an x which held the melons on my chest while my shoulders had armor plates on them in a sandstone color that provided protection and easy movement. On my legs was segmented plating to mid thigh allowing full movement. Around my waist was a loincloth with a short skirt attached to it, and a belt with a jackal head at the center. That tiny jackal head contained two glowing amber eyes. My arms were only covered from fingerless gloves to the elbow with bracers made of the same hard lightweight metal as the shoulder guards. The final piece of the armor was a large gourd that rested on my back via a sash like strap that went over one shoulder to under the bottom of the lower left arm.

"So this is the rumored Dunestalker Armor?" The man commented with a somewhat curios tone. I could see his eyes and head move as he slowly looked over my form. Oddly enough that didn't creep me out or unsettle me as that action did with other Southern Cross members. Holy energy radiated off of the paladin in a manner that was different from others I had faced. The energy was clam and almost serene rather than a angry aura of energy that most paladins of Southern Cross had. This guy was toned in the way of a some agile fighter and wore armor that was not plate, but something akin to chain mail. From the look of the material it was lighter than plate armor that would give him great degrees of movement without sacrificing much protection.

I raised an eyebrow staying in a slightly crouched position with my tail swaying from side to side slowly. "What of it?"

"I've only read about it in books." He replied bringing his eyes back to mine. Those orbs each held an interesting mixture of gold and blue, similar to hazel eye that have a mix of brown and green for the color. "It is an armor that grants the wearer the ability to control the desert in the form of sand with a starting amount of magic infused sand carried in a gourd strapped to the back. It also protects the user form the harshness of desert heat by keeping them cool through magic and the fact the armor breaths well." He paused reaching to grab the handle of a sword on his back. "The armor does not come with a weapon as many armor sets do because sand is the weapon."

"Right on the mark." I commented using my tail to pull out the cork at the top and toss it off to the side. "However books do not account for the abilities of this armor."

Silence loomed in the air only broken by the sound of combat a ways off. Gajeel's magic flared off and on so he was fighting someone powerful. After a few seconds the ringing of metal caught my attention as that sword came out of the sheath. Enchanted steel gleamed in the dimming orange light. Once the sword was out of the sheath runes along the center glowed gold with magic.

"I am Nezar Konda, a Vindicator of Southern Cross." He spoke pointing the blade tip at me momentarily then getting into a ready stance with the weapon in front of him at a slight angle.

I smirked. "Aether Wade, War Maiden of Fairy Tail, and Executioner of the Magic Council." I said getting a nod form the paladin across form me. One of Nezar's eyebrows rose, as if he was asking himself a question. I flexed the four fingers of each hand hearing them crack. Two swords materialized into my upper hands while I kept the lower hands empty. I pointed the lower hands with fingers pointed at Nezar. **"Void Spears!"** From the area around the lower hands spears of void energy shot out at speed.

 **"Holy Geyser!"** Nezar spoke deflecting several spears before a geyser of holy magic burst in front of him, blocking the remaining attack. Seconds after the eruption of holy magic I saw him bursting through the dust cloud. With speed he attacked diagonally, though I blocked his two handed weapon with both of mine. It wasn't long before he pushed against my blades with a grunt.

Building magic alerted me to an attack so I jumped back. **"Sand Barrier!"** Sand erupted from the gourd arcing over my head. The sand formed a curved wall in front of me as a shield. Something exploded on the other side of the sand throwing up more dust and smoke. With a thought the sand fell to the ground revealing empty space. I didn't need to track Nezar's magic signature to know where he was going. The vindicator moved fast to my back right. Within seconds the Frost Empress Sword replaced the one I had in my upper right hand. I whirled around slicing diagonally down onto his weapon. **"Frostburst!"**

Nezar grunted at the explosion of ice magic that made him stumble back a few steps. **"Holy Arc!"** Holy magic surged from the blade swung in an arc. Once again sand morphed into a partial shell to protect me. I heard another blast then the tip of a sword poked through after it. **"Holy Blast!"** From the tip of the blade an explosion of magic rippled outwards.

The blast of magic burned as it touched my skin similar to a burn. I moved with the momentum feeling some light burn marks on my body. The sand splashed around the area as Nezar readied his weapon to move, this time holding the sword up near his head. He was like that for a few seconds then rushed forward. I also charged forward slamming down a blade onto his form. Nezar grunted audibly as the ground under him formed a tiny crater. Wasting little time I attacked with my left hand. Before that blade could hit a circle of golden light materialized near his ribs. That stopped the blade in its tracks.

 **"Sand Geyser!"** Within seconds sand surged to Nezar's feet before exploding up. The paladin went flying into the air, a perfect target. **"Sand Bullets!"** hundreds of tiny bullet shaped objects shot from the sand on the ground. He gave out a scream as those hit. The impacts pushed the paladin back from me as he fell trailing a little bit of blood. Bringing both lower hands up palm open the ground rumbled, then began moving forward. **"Sand Tsunami!"** I called shoving both lower hands in front of me.

Sand welled up in front of me before rising up to form a tidal wave. That wave went ahead washing over everything. It calmed down after going past where I sensed the paladin. The sand didn't move for nearly two minutes then it shifted.

 **"Avo's Firestorm!"** Nezar's voice boomed from the sand moments before a pillar of holy fire roared into existence. The firestorm burned away the sand vaporizing it. It created a five yard radius of open space. The sword burned with holy energy as the tip faced me once again. **"Avo's Thunder!"**

Sand once again formed into a protective shell around me. Seconds later holy lightning ripped through the shield and struck me. I grunted as the spell hit. After a few moments the lightning wore off causing smoke to rise from my form. Some new burns dotted my form, a little more potent than the earlier holy burns.

I weaved my two lower arms on front of me crossing the other with palms facing out. **"Sand Spears!"** I called then sand moved forming spears that raced for the paladin. He dodged to the left avoiding the first string of spears. However several more appeared in the direction he went. Nezar's eyes widened as the dense spears of sand came close. A streak of golden light shot through the tip of the closest spear dispersing it, closely followed by two more. _There's another!?_ I cursed mentally before flicking my tail in the direction of the holy signature I had missed somehow. **"Void Fire Geyser!"**

A scream sounded before a form burst our from the trees to my right dropping a cloak onto the ground that had caught fire. The void fire quickly turned the article of clothing to ashes though it let me get a good look at the newcomer. They were a fit male holding a bow that glowed golden yellow. It radiated the same power as Nezar's sword though it felt different. This guy had on light armor that would be more or less tough leather and a large quiver on his back. However there wasn't a melee weapon upon his person.

"This will make things more interesting." I commented summoning forth more magic giving myself a violet glow.

The newcomer scoffed. "You are arrogant demon." With that he held up the hand with the bow, aiming it at me. Without pulling the bowstring a bolt of holy energy went past my ear barely grazing it. Seconds passed before a dozen or more bolts came form that bow.

I charged forward going right for Nezar whom appeared shocked at the sudden attack. The paladin got his blade up in tome to block the Frost Empress Sword and the other common one in my upper left hand. That combined strike had sent him skidding back two yards on the sand. I saw the other guy pull back the bowstring but he didn't fire it. Nezar came at me with focused intent in his eyes. The weapon in his hands glowed once more with holy power. I parried his first strike with one sword then went to attack his side with the other blade. Nezar drew back his weapon to parry that with speed and precision.

 **"Avo's Fire!"** Nezar commanded swinging that blade of his down to the left.

 **"Frost Nova!"** I called parrying the strike with the Frost Empress Sword. The spells detonated pushing me back a step. However I heard the paladin land some feet away on his back with a thud. The area between us was clouded in a cold mist that I couldn't see through. Sensing movement I shifted to the side dodging a bolt of holy magic. With hardly a pause more of those bolts came bursting through the mist. I stepped to the left avoiding more bolts then began deflecting the ones coming for me.

After about thirty seconds or so the bolts stopped, then a giant one came. That giant bolt dispersed the mist in one go. It was nearly the size of a metal trash can with condensed holy magic in it. In a flash a large shotgun was in my upper hands that weighted a large amount. For most this thing would be almost too heavy to lug around or fire it, since this thing has a massive kickback. **"Disruptor Shotgun: Crash Blast!"** I pumped the shotgun hearing the satisfying clicking of it able to fire, then unleashed the magical payload with a pull of the trigger. The white and blue sparking ball of magic raced out pushing sand away as it traveled.

The ball of magic hammered into the large bolt of holy magic and exploded. The Crash Blast made the holy magic unstable and forced it to lash out in random directions before it could get anywhere near me. The force of the blast was a 180 degree arc from the sand to the sky making it harmless. Clapping my lower hands together sand surged at the two. It quickly wrapped around both paladins like a cocoon before closing in to crush them. The sand slowly constricted then stopped shaking. I raised an eyebrow sensing that the two of them were still under the sand.

A sudden burst of magic power blew the sand back from their position. Both paladins looked battered with noticeable bruises on their forms. IN the case of Nezar some of his chain mail armor was missing, showing arms and part of a leg with slices that bled. The sword warrior had his weapon stabbed into the earth.

"That was a close call." Nezar grunted breathing a little heavy while kneeling at his weapon. Behind him the other paladin sported tears in the leather with bleeding wounds. Despite removing the sand the two of them had suffered damage.

I let go of the shotgun and it vanished in a flash of light. **"Sand Needles."** Sand shot into the air then formed hundreds of thin wicked needles. Those hovered in the air for several seconds then shot forth.

 **"Avo's Barrier!"** Nezar called summoning a dome of protective holy magic. The barrier covered them stopping the needles, deforming them back into sand. It was a good defense though there was one problem.

 **"Sand Spike Graveyard!"** as I said that I knelt down to slam four fists into the sand. The earth rumbled moments before spires of sand erupted with the ability to skewer most things. Nezar jumped back in surprise, letting go of his sword. The barrier flickered out of existence as the spires of sand rippled to them. The ranged paladin took several steps back before slipping on the sand. That was his death with spikes impaling his body from the legs up to the head. About ten seconds later spikes stopped appearing. I stood up before gazing around. For quite some distance was rock hard spikes about six feet in length.

"Damn it!" Nezar cursed bringing my attention to him. The human had two spikes hit him; one in the right shoulder and the other through his left thigh before the knee.

With a thought the sand that was around us broke apart and funneled into the gourd on my back. However the only things of sand that remained was the spikes holding Nezar in place. After the gourd was filled I created another cork then used my tail to put it in. Once it was in I dismissed the armor breathing hard as white cloth wrapped around my breasts and a skirt materialized that ended at mid thigh. That armor took more energy out of me than I thought it would.

I started walking to him with slow steps. "That was a good fight, though you didn't have enough power to beat me." Nezar just watched me as I came to a stop near him. "Why are you with Southern Cross when you don't agree with their ideals?"

the human's eyes widened. "How do you know that?"

I chuckled feeling a bit of pain on my ribs from the holy burns. Glancing to my arms the burns there bled a little. "There are some things that can be understood while fighting another." I paused to get more air. I could fight some more if need be though I was easily less than half power now. "I can tell you are paladin who is able to know when one is right and when one is wrong. Southern Cross is overzealous killing many who have not had dealings with Void's Saw in any form."

"Its barbaric." Nezar spat with a wince placing his left hand at the shoulder spike.

I nodded. "My question still stands Nezar. Why work with them? What are you fighting for? If you want to help others the Magic Council could use someone like you or any number of legal guilds." In a flash Galefury was in my upper left hand. "This is going to hurt."

"What is?" Nezar said before his eyes went to the sword in my hand.

 **"Tempest Thunder."** I spoke pointing the blade at his chest. From the sky a single bolt of lightning slammed into the paladin electrocuting him. He screamed as the lightning shocked him lightly while wind made small cuts on his form, none of them lethal. After ten seconds the shocking stopped letting wispy smoke come off of Nezar's unconscious form. Galefury vanished the moment I turned around to leave. I walked for several minutes as night began to fall. I glanced at last vestiges of the setting sun to my left. I sensed the area for Gajeel noting that he was laying on the ground beyond my sight and out of power.

Relaxing I changed course to make my way to the Dragonslayer. Trekking through the ruins of the fortifications made me wonder why it was here in the first place. I couldn't shake the feeling that Southern Cross had another intention with this army. They had the equipment to attack a city the size of Gruen, yet they didn't. Were they expecting an attack of large scale? One of my ears flicked at the sound of crunching leaves. I stopped walking and closed my eyes to concentrate on hearing. A few seconds of silence then another crunch of leaves, sounding like a foot. I tiled my ears this way and that figuring out where the sounds were coming from.

Silence reigned again for a number of seconds then another crunch of leaves sounded. I whirled around to face the forest edge that had been to my right. I didn't see anything through the foliage, then something came out. The thing in question was a small orb that was black in color with red runes on it. It rolled to a stop about a meter or so in front of me. I watched the orb for fifteen seconds or then the runes began glowing. With a wave of a hand a void barrier formed around the lacrima bomb. Back flipping away the bomb went off, muffled under the barrier. With a dull thud I landed on the ground several meters away.

Magic built up quickly under my feet. "Shit!" I cursed forming another barrier at my feet. It exploded before I could form the barrier. Growling echoed from my throat as the spell burned flesh. I landed again on the ground with a grunt looking back to the tree line feeling blood leak out of new burns on my arms and legs. **"Void Resonance."** I said placing one hand on the ground. It had been years since I'd needed to use this spell. The pulse of magic went out letting me know the location of more buried lacrima bombs around the valley. It also let me know of something that was moving at speed, though not what it was.

I crouched gathering power for long range area effect spell. Without warning something sliced through the lower right arm and cut the lower side of the upper one. Glancing to that side let me see something briefly. **"Void Tempest!"** I called electrifying the air around me for three meters. With that a scream sounded as an armored figure crashed into a tree. That figure went through the tree and knocked over another one. I watched the smoke seeing slim golden armor and a palpable cloud of holy fury.

I summoned power saturating the air causing some earth at my feet to whither away slowly. Before the paladin could get on their feet I sprinted to them launching a fist at their back. I blinked then the first fist was caught as well as the second but the lower left smashed into ribs shoving my enemy aside.

"You are quite dangerous demon." The paladin remarked with a serious female tone, similar to a commanding Erza. **"Avo's Lightning Geyser!"**

 **"Void Earth barrier!"** Lightning splashed from a slab of earth infused with void energy that rose from the ground. Using my tail I grabbed an ankle and lifted the woman off her feet, then slammed her into the ground. A grunt was the only sound to escape her lips. **"Void Demon's Roar!"** I unleashed the breath attack at the downed paladin.

 **"Holy Blast!"** She commanded shoving a blade of holy magic up deflecting most of the breath away. Moving quickly she got to her feet with some of her armor burnt and missing some of the protective material. She lunged for me with the holy blade in her left hand. I blocked the holy blade with a void blade in my upper left hand, causing the two to spark at the contact of opposite energies. She threw a holy charged punch with her right hand that I caught with my remaining right hand.

I hissed as the holy energy burned me, as it is a weakness of void demons and many void natives. Ignoring the building pain I kicked her in the chest while curling my toes. Blood came out of her mouth at the impact and the claws of my foot tore four lines through the armor. She rolled with the force to get onto her feet a distance away. She placed a hand on the ground before channeling holy fury. There was a split second of magic build up at my feet alerting me to something. Jumping to the side let me avoid a geyser of holy magic. Feeling another one form I front flipped and charged at her. Geysers of magic erupted in the way slowing me down a little as I avoid each one of them.

Once at her I kicked her in the side which she blocked with both arms. I felt a sting as the air grew heavy with power. It all came from the paladin and hovered around her form like a thin protective layer. I narrowed my eyes lashing out with my tail sweeping her feet out from under. Burning pain flared the time my tail connected with her armored body, and vanished when not touching it.

 _Retribution aura._ I hissed mentally recognizing the spell. It was one of the higher level skills for paladins meaning that my enemy was at least Vindicator rank if not higher. Regardless of that aura I needed to take her out. I threw a left handed double punch slamming both fists into the ground where she had been. A holy blade longer than the two I had seen earlier came for my chest. I leaned back dodging the blade barely, though it nicked my stomach to just under my breasts. With a grunt the paladin got on her side then spun kicking my feet out from under me. I landed hard on my tail with it a painful angles making me scream.

A boot crashed into my face forcing my head to smack into the hard earth. Seconds passed slowly with my vision clearing up once the shadow of something moved away from my head. Golden light dominated my sight before a large blade moved down. Vision cleared the instant pain flared from one of my left arms, and a scream thundered from my throat. Focusing through the pain I rolled landing a fist charged with void energy. I smirked hearing armor and bones crack from the hit. The paladin was sent to the side a distance, rolling from the sound of it. A few seconds went by before a painful shock of electricity ripped through me. I sat up before coughing out blood and wincing.

"Is the light getting to you, Void Demon?" The paladin said with a condescending tone. That question was a rhetorical one since I knew as well as she did that the holy magic was getting me. That Retribution Aura was one reason why this was getting more difficult as time went on. Each time I touch or strike her that aura of aggressive holy energy lashes out at me.

Slowly I got up feeling muscles protest the movement painfully. Glancing to the left only one arm remained on that side as the upper left one had been severed just below the shoulder. Thanks to the holy blade that was missing the severed limb was partially cauterized, so a little bit of blood came from the wound. Breathing was getting difficult forcing me to take large breaths to try and sate my lung's thirst for air. In the middle of that I coughed up more blood spitting it out to the ground. Tightening my right hand into a fist magic flared from me summoning a dozen swords and pistols. I took the time to look over my enemy in detail again. A large section of the chest armor was cut to the flesh drawing blood that flowed at a slow rate. The helmet she had on earlier was not on her head revealing a face with soft angles and high cheek bones. Dark green eyes watched me closely while short brown hair blew in the light night time breeze.

"You will die here Heathen." I spat as her face twisted into a furious scowl.

I didn't get a verbal reply as she dashed at me. Holy energy flared into a blazing inferno around her person as she closed the distance. The pistols around me opened fire pelting the ground. Most of the shots were rendered useless by the aura of holy fire while a few struck the legs slowing her down somewhat. At that slowing the melee weapons surged at her. She dodged to the side avoiding the first weapon that was an ax allowing it to bury in the ground. The next weapon was a sword that she punched through destroying it, then a spear and hammer. The paladin stopped in her tracks as the hammer came down throwing up dirt and dust, as well as her.

In the air she was helpless to dodge the spear that sliced her ribs on the right side and for a dagger to stab into her shoulder to the hilt. She screamed throwing her arms outwards to me as if throwing a ball at an angle. When she did that the holy fire left her form and came at me in a large orb. With a stomp of my foot a void frost geyser roared to life in front of the holy fire blocking it. Both spells detonated shaking the ground and forcing me to take two steps back from the concussive wave.

"Damn it!" The paladin cursed pushing herself up from having been knocked off her feet once again. However that spell combination had destroyed the weapons I summoned save for the dagger in her shoulder. That wound sparked before she yanked it out in one motion trailing blood. Fury burned in her eyes as she took the dagger and sliced through the armor of one hand, drawing fresh blood.

 _What the hell?_ I pondered before she dropped the dagger and began chanting something. As she chanted magic power began to rise with motions of her hands. Watching them it looked like she was going through handsigns. But for what? Feeling a sense of dread in my stomach I stabbed my tail into the ground. **"Void Fire Devastation!"** With that void fire erupted in a wave out from my tail scorching the ground. It destroyed and burned all it touched making a lot of smoke. It reached her then paused as if a force held it back, though the rest of the spell went out like normal. After a few moments a golden bubble around her materialized that the void fire clung to.

Through the void fire I noted her hands stop moving. Next she knelt down with both hands flat to the healthy, protected ground inside the bubble. **"Avo's Divine Tempest!"** With that magic surged to new heights making me a little dizzy while the air rumbled with power. Then a golden light shined on me before dozens of twisters appeared in the area sparking with golden-blue lightning. My eyes widened moments before that golden-blue lightning chained to the twisters and through me. Fire ripped through my body making the previous pain I had been feeling nothing compared to this.

A scream echoed from my throat again as powerful holy lightning shocked me constantly. For what seemed like hours the spell went on burning and blistering my body. Then it died down though I still felt on fire or as if acid had been splashed onto me. My breathing was ragged as blood ripped from my mouth to the ground below and from my severed limbs. The area in front of me blurred quickly as I started to waver. My left leg gave out so I fell to that side. The blurry image of the paladin disappeared. Darkness claimed my vision before I hit the ground.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

A book closed quietly and purple eyes scanned the area. Five wizards sat around the spacious hotel room. Erza Scarlet sat on the bed where three little girls lay sleeping in pajamas. The Celestial spirit mage sat in a chair next to another where Gray sat once again only in his boxers. The blond sighed not even bothering to reprimand the ice wizard for stripping. Natsu the Dragonslayer slept leaning against the movie stand and the floor. Mirage leaned up against the wall next to the entrance of the room.

The purple haired half human checked her wrist. "It has been three hours since they left." She was clad in new clothing consisting of a white tank top and knee length jean skirt.

Sayla nodded. "They may have gotten into more trouble than they expected." She said standing before putting the book within one hand inside her belt. "One of us should stay here to look after Aether's daughters." A collective nod went through the awake wizards. "Who should watch over them?"

"I can watch over them." Mirage said drawing attention. "I don't really have any combat ability, nor the magic you guys use."

"That works." Erza said standing up. "After we find out what happened to them we will come back here and inform you."

Mirage nodded. "They should be easy to take care of."

"Let's go find them." The redhead commanded waking up Natsu. The Dragonslayer stood up and followed the others as they left. Silence dominated the atmosphere as the group made it to the roof where Raz waited.

"How many of you am I carrying?" The lizardlisk asked glancing over the five mages.

"Those four." Sayla said with a wave of one hand to the others with her. "I can fly myself." She took several steps away from them then a ripple of energy washed over her form that had shifted. Her form was that of Klyrix with wings and horns on the head. That form also had a purple coloration to the fur.

"Get on." Raz said crouching down so the four Fairy Tail mages could get onto his back and have some sort of hold. "Make sure to hold on." He warned before jumping into the air and flying off. Sayla followed the lizardlisk in the air before getting ahead of him.

"There is only one place big enough for an attack force to hide near Gruen: The Keptic Valley."

"Where is that?" Lucy asked raising her voice a little to make sure she was heard.

"Follow me." Sayla replied making Lucy shake her head, though Raz followed the flying demon. After five minutes of passing over peaceful forests and one mountain something came into view.

"Is it supposed to look like that?" Gray commented pointing to the higher part of the valley.

Sayla glanced over the valley with a careful eye. One half of it was damaged badly with countless craters, scorched earth, piles of loose sand, and the broken remains of bodies. However the lower half of the valley was largely untouched except for a coloration of red in the streams. The demon angled down then landed switching back to her normal form once on the ground. Seconds later Raz landed with a thud before the mages slid off of his back.

"Somehow I don't think that destruction is normal." Lucy said pointing to the higher ground.

"You are right." Sayla commented then started walking forward, seemingly not caring what might get on her feet. "There is traces of magic in the air."

"Looks like a earthquake happened here." Natsu remarked before his eyes widened and a hand went to cover his nose. "Nasty!"

"What is?" Gray said watching natsu groan with one hand over his nose.

Erza hummed in thought before taking several sniffs of the air. "I can clearly smell blood and burnt flesh."

"Burnt flesh?!" Lucy shrieked while Gray stiffened slightly. "Then what happened here?"

"The attack force was obliterated." Gray said calmly with a hint of something else Lucy couldn't quite place.

"Aether's magic signature lingers in the air, overshadowing the holy magic of hundreds." Sayla said stopping to pick up something. The Fairy Tail mages went over to her seeing a helmet with one large bullet hole through where a forehead would be if one was wearing it.

Lucy shivered a little as a chill ran down her spine. "I guess I can't deny her ability to fight entire dark guilds on her own now..."

"If this isn't proof enough of her insane strength Aether did kill the master of Phantom who was a Wizard Saint, remember?"

"Aether's specialty seems to be wide scale destruction with lethal accuracy." Sayla said quietly dropping the helmet to the ground. "I sense someone still alive who is not a demon or paladin."

"Who?" Erza asked watching the demon who shrugged.

"Smells like a dragon..." Natsu paused before recognition lit his face. "Gajeel!" He hollered before running off at speed.

"After him!" Erza commanded leading the chase of Natsu with the others close behind. It did not take them long to catch up to the fire mage who stood over someone.

"He's wounded pretty good." Gray noted before rolling Gajeel onto his back. Lots of bladed wounds marked his body that seemed burnt.

Erza knelt down grabbing the collar of the Iron Dragonslayer's torn shirt. Without a pause the redhead violently shook him. "Wake up! Tell us what happened now!" She roared shaking him for almost a minute.

"Stop." Sayla said then Erza froze in movement the next moment. "That will not wake him."

Gray took a step back looking at Erza's startled face. "What did you do?"

"Release him." Sayla said calmly as Erza did just that. The gold horned demon knelt down before grabbing one arm and biting down on it. The others watched silently as nothing seemed to happen right away. For a short time Sayla held her position then released Gajeel's arm from her mouth. "The blood I just injected will wake him up."

Erza turned sharply to narrow her eyes at the full demon of the group. "What did you do to me?"

Sayla sighed. "I have a power that allows me to take absolute control of any object or person I desire. I used that on you so you would stop hurting the Dragonslayer by shaking him so violently."

Gajeel groaned sitting up as some of the wounds on his body knitted themselves shut while others shrunk in size, especially the large gash across his chest at a down angle. "My head's killing me..."

"What happened here Gajeel?" Lucy asked before the red eyes of the Iron Dragonslayer focused on her briefly, then shifted to the others present.

"I don't smell aether, so where is she?" Raz said coming to a stop next to Natsu.

Gajeel's eyes widened immediately. "Damn it!" He growled slamming one hand into the ground next to him. He closed his eyes then took several big breaths and let them out slowly. "Aether and I arrived here thanks to the demon teleporting us into the air so we landed in two different spots among the army of Southern Cross paladins. We spent three hours killing an army of hundreds which is where the destruction you see came from." He said with a wave of one arm around them. "They were all too easy to slaughter until the remaining numbers whom provided more of a challenge. At the end I was separated from aether who had a large scale battle with several powerful paladins."

"What class?" Erza asked earning his attention.

Gajeel shrugged. "Not sure. Vindicator class maybe?"

"Vindicator class?" Lucy and Gray said in sync.

"Southern Cross has a ranking system that also denotes how strong one of their members is and what magic or skills they may have access to." Sayla said holding up a finger. "For instance Squires are their lowest members while a Heaven's Blade is among their most powerful members. Vindicators are a strong low ranking paladin that can have access to enchanted armor or weapons and a variety of offensive holy magic." She finished getting nods from Lucy and Gray.

"Aether fought two of them for a time. During the time she was fighting them I was attacked by another whom wounded me with a powerful blade of enchanted steel." Gajeel ground out at the end, then winced placing a hand at his side under ribs bones. "I was barely able to land hits on that bitch before she knocked me out."

"I see." Erza sighed looking up to the night sky. She stared at it for some time before bringing her gaze to the line of craters up the hill from them where parts of cannons were still visible. "Do you remember anything else?"

Gajeel grunted. "I woke up briefly to voices of two people."

"What did they say?" Natsu asked finally having taken the hand away from his nose.

The Iron Dragonslayer grit his teeth clenching his free hand into a tight fist. "They said Heaven's Tower has called Aether home."

Erza jolted without warning. "What!?

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Salt and water filled the air while a gentle rocking made chains jingle. Aside from the jingle of metal chains the creaking of wood roused me from sleep. What greeted my eyes was a barren room with a few wooden crates near the walls and a door across from where I was. It was like a storage room for something. Glancing to my left I saw a tiny window that was dominated by sunlight and blue water. That explained the gentle swaying and creaking of wood.

Thuds from heavy feet sounded before stopping in front of the door. Then it opened to reveal a female entering. The black haired woman was donned in form fitting segmented scale armor with a golden sheen to it. The armor did not cover the entirety of her form since it left the elbows, knees, underside of the shoulders, and inner thighs unprotected for movement.

"Finally awake huh?" The woman spoke in a almost bored sounding tone as sharp green eyes looked over me. Those eyes unnerved me like they were peering into me rather than at me. "That is the only thing I am jealous of when it comes to your kind demon. And that is your regeneration. Three days and all of your limbs have grown back."

"It is incredible." I agreed though despite my healing I couldn't feel some parts of my body.

A twisted smile came to her lips. "Which makes certain things more fun or rewarding."

A chill ran down my spine at those words. There was only one things she could be talking about. In a blur of movement something sliced across my stomach horizontally. I made no sound at the action but watched blood drip from the short blade in her left hand that had splashed some droplets onto the wall to my right. "I'll kill you after I break these chains human." I moved jerking the chains around my arms and tail feeling them to be quite secure. Then acidic burning took hold of my senses as a scream came out of my mouth. I looked to my arms seeing chains glowing gold and sparking with magic, causing my eyes to widen.

She burst out into laughter sheathing the short blade at the same time. "You can't break those demon!" She said continuing to laugh while I just stared at her. "You are powerless against blessed chains!"

I hated to admit it, but she was right. Thanks to these chains binding me to the wall being blessed I couldn't break them and if I try I get shocked with holy lightning. This was certainly new for me as the only other time Southern Cross captured me they didn't use these to hold me. At the realization of helplessness fear started to settle in my stomach. Blurred memories began to surface without my consent. A grimy dungeon and magical chains with some blue haired figure over me.

A voice said something but I couldn't make out the words as the memory began to clear allowing me to see more details. Arrogant silver eyes glared downwards in a smug manner while blue hair clung to a sweat covered form. Without warning that image faded with air being forced out of my lungs. I coughed a few times before focusing my gaze to the only other one in the room.

"You may have been tortured before demon." She paused putting a hand behind her back. "But not like this." She finished shoving that arm forward. Something stabbed into my lower left arm just past the elbow.

"AH!" I screamed the moment potent holy energy seeped out form the bladed object. It burned and shocked at the same time for a while. It faded slowly though I could feel a sting where the object.

A sadistic grin formed on her lips as those green eyes bored into me. The eyes looked strangely familiar for some reason. "You will pay for killing my father twice."

* * *

Admittedly I have a love hate relationship with cliffhangers. It is evil fun to use them, though I get annoyed running into them as a reader. if you all would like me to re-post how Aether's harem is now I can do that in the next chapter, just mention it in a review if you want to see it.

 **Next time:** Heaven's Game


	9. Heaven's Game

**spoilers for Fairy Tail and for Dragon Cry:** First of all I would like to mention that I have recently watched Dragon Cry, and it was amazing. My favorite part had to be Erza using Celestial Armor (as the wiki calls it since it has no mentioned name) to cast Grand Chariot. On that note the character Sonya was interesting since she has magic to see the life force of others even through solid objects like walls. She also has beyond human durability for being able to walk around just fine after getting swiped by the dragon Animus. I found out on the wiki she had an actual manga appearance (chapter 543) in a flashback for Acnologia. Her death (or pseudo death if anyone has watched the movie) at the hands of dragons with Animus was the driving force behind Acnolgia's quest to eradicate dragons from Earthland. **Spoilers end**

Things have been quite busy for me lately since I went from part time to full time. So I have less time overall to work on stories, game, or draw (still here and there kinda thing). That said I will work on the next chapter for Conduit that I already have partially written. After that I will work on the next chapter for Freezing: Wolf God.

I will list Aether's harem at the end of this chapter which is like an early Christmas gift. Thanks to all of you who favorite, follow, and review this story. And thanks to those of you who have also favorited and or followed my others stories, and most of all me as the author. That makes me happy when I see those messages in my email. Now to the chapter...

* * *

"What happened to you?" A brute of a man spoke with a thick accent from the southern lands. His frame dwarfed that of the others in the cargo hold of the ship. His body only half covered by armor leaving his chest and shoulders bare. Armor protected his arm from forearm to hands.

"What do you think Spark?" Snapped a woman sitting on a wooden crate. Bandages were wrapped mostly around her upper body with some on legs. Her armor lay on the floor discarded, blood soaked, and heavily damaged.

"Fight a pack of rodents Catherine?" Spark replied.

"Fuck off!" The woman, Catherine, spoke before gritting her teeth in pain.

Another woman sitting next to the wounded paladin sighed. "Leave the girl alone boy." Gold eyes narrowed in annoyance causing the brute to take several shaking steps back in fear. Once Spark stopped moving back she turned her attention back to the wounded paladin. The brown haired woman was a lucky one, the others had been thoroughly killed except for one. _Vindicator Nezar Konda was heavily wounded, yet those injuries were not fatal._ The gold eyed woman reached out with both hands weaving together stitches with practiced skill. _Why did Aether Wade kill the others and not him?_

Catherine winced again as the healer tugged on the strings for stitches. "That demon was incredibly powerful." She said lowering her gaze to the floor. Pain gnawed at the majority of her body, especially at her chest from the claws of the demon's foot. Then there was the drain on her reserves of magic. _It takes a massive toll to use that spell. Even after three days I'm still drained._

A grin formed on Spark's face. "How powerful?"

"There was an army of five hundred that had begun to build fortifications at the Keptic Valley." Another female voice spoke. The attention of those present turned to one black haired woman with sharp green eyes. "Our guest, Aether Wade and a Dragonslayer, demolished that army by themselves."

Spark's eyes widened in surprise. "Five hundred paladins slaughtered by a single void demon and Dragonslayer?!"

The green eyed woman looked at the wounded paladin with a careful eye. "You had to use your trump card didn't you Catherine?"

"Yeah." Catherine replied. "She was wounded and yet she almost killed me. I was forced to use **Avo's Divine Tempest**."

"It's a good thing you did." The black haired woman commented.

"What do you think he is planning Nyvella?" The gold eyed doctor asked getting silence.

Nyvella shrugged jingling the golden plates of her segmented armor. "No idea what he requires so much magical energy for or why he needs to have a sacrifice. Frankly we aren't getting paid to question Jellal's motives." With that she left the hold of the ship to get on deck. Once there Nyvella took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Gazing down from her high perch she felt satisfaction at the work of those below her. Down the steps from her was the main part of the top deck where men and women made sure cannons were cleaned and checked for any problems.

The ship was large and long with metal for a good portion of the outside that provided decent protection from gunfire or most cannons. Turning her eyes up the sky was as calm as the sea. The sail proudly displayed the symbol of Southern Cross like Nyvella's breastplate.

"We're about three hours from landing at the Tower, Commander Nyvella." A rugged man with graying hair and trimmed beard said snapping a salute. His battle armor mirrored those of his commander largely, though with more protection on the joints unlike the exposed skin of Nyvella's armor.

"Good." Nyvella said returning the salute letting the man stand at ease next to the wheel. "Make sure to get the garrison ready when we land. I expect trouble to come calling."

OoOoOoOoOo

"I should have been with her to destroy that army." Erza Scarlet growled pacing around the hotel room. "If I was there she wouldn't have been captured!"

"What difference would your presence have made Titania?" Gajeel grunted keeping arms crossed over his chest. The Iron Dragonslayer leaned up against the long movie stand while the other occupants of the room sat down on various surfaces. "We beat the army of paladins only to get beaten by some extra ones."

"It is my fault that she was taken."

Sayla snapped her book shut earning the attention of the room's occupants. "From the power that lingered in the air after the battle I know what happened." The gold horned demon spoke briefly glancing to the bed where Aether's daughters still slept with Mirage sitting on the bed next to them. The woman was listening intently to the conversation.

"Tell me." Erza ordered focusing her gaze and anger at the horned demon.

"Aether would have won her last fight at the Keptic Valley, however she was caught off guard by a spell."

"A spell?" Lucy repeated raising an eyebrow.

"What kind of spell are we talking about?" Gray spoke unbuttoning his shirt, but not taking it off.

"A holy magic that is powerful but exacts a heavy toll on the caster." Sayla paused putting her book down on the end of the bed. "The spell that was used is called " **Avo's Divine Tempest** ". It is a spell that summons violent twisters of holy wind charged with holy lightning."

"Holy Wind? Holy lightning? What is that?" Natsu said tilting his head to the side confused.

"Nature manipulation." The other Dragonslayer spoke earning attention. "It is an advanced technique that lets a Void Demon alter void energy to have additional properties. One example that is easy for most is void ice, which has the properties of void Energy and the ability to freeze or cool things. Same principal for holy magic." Gajeel explained getting nods from everyone but Natsu. The pink haired Dragonslayer stared at Gajeel for about ten seconds then shrugged.

"We need to rescue Aether." Erza spoke commandingly.

Gajeel nodded. "Are you willing to continue watching Aether's daughters Mirage?"

Mirage sighed. "I do not possess the abilities you all have. I will continue to watch over them since that us the only thing I can do for now."

"Can you open a portal to Ethos?" Gajeel said gesturing to Sayla.

"I can, but why?" The gold horned demon asked focusing her gaze on him.

"There is someone who can get us to the tower that Aether was taken to." Gejeel replied. With that Sayla snapped her fingers conjuring a portal in the middle of the room.

"This portal leads to one of the parks of Ethos." Sayla explained getting nods from those present. One by one they filed through the portal before the gold horned demon walked through it last. Once on the other side twilight skies greeted those who had entered along with kids running around on teal blue grass. The park itself was large with plenty of trees ranging from orange red to bright blue in color.

"This is very different from what I had pictured." Gray commented looking at the twilight sky lit by tow orbs of violet light. All around them an advanced city stretched out with tall square buildings and busy streets occupied mainly by wheeled vehicles. Next to those roads were pathways that some walked along. Dozens of people occupied portions of the park they stood in.

Erza chuckled making Gray and Lucy raise an eyebrow looking at the female warrior. "The first time I came to the Void I expected the realm to be nothing but empty space, though I was proven wrong."

"Who is it that can get us to the tower Aether was taken to?" Sayla said only to have Gajeel start walking. The group shrugged and followed the Iron Dragonslayer for some time. As they traveled the buildings shifted notably from tall offices to more single floor structures. Then after some time the building shifted a little to reveal some large two story buildings with warehouses not far from them along with docks presumably for ships. Gajeel walked into one of the large two story buildings next to a covered dock.

"Good to see you metal-head!" A cheerful female voice commented from somewhere near the bar as the group entered. After another minute or so a buxom female with vibrant red hair made herself known behind the bar at the far end of the place. She wore a form fitting suit with vertical lines that showed off some of her ample cleavage. A short skirt was under that going to about mid thigh and knee high boots completed her attire. Bright green and blue eyes studied the group lasting longer on Sayla and Erza than the others.

"I told you to quite calling me that!" Gajeel snapped as the Dragonslayer sat down at the bar. The others followed suit within minutes, leaving Erza standing next to the metal Dragonslayer.

"What else do I call you when you eat metal?!" The woman behind the bar countered making the iron Dragonslayer groan. "So what brings the lot of you into my bar?" She added in a light tone.

"Aether was captured by Southern Cross." Erza supplied immediately noting the dark aura around the redhead behind the bar.

"Those bastards stole something of mine." The other redhead said passively. The woman's eyes glowed brightly in their two colors while others in the bar stood still. "Get the Fortune's Bounty Ready for departure!"

"Yes, ma'am!" A chorus of male and female voices replied in unison. Then they stopped what they had been doing to funnel out of the building through the front door.

"Yours?" Erza asked with danger laced in her voice.

Those green and blue eyes narrowed on Erza Scarlet. "Who are you to Aether?"

"Her lover and girlfriend." Erza responded calmly matching the other redhead's gaze.

The two redheads stared at each other for some time before a male interjected himself between them. One hand was placed in front of the faces of both women. The man who put himself between the two was of a lean wiry build, though latent magic pulsed in his veins. He was positioned in front of the redhead behind the bar. "Enough!" He commanded, getting their attention. "You have yet to get permission to get into Aether's pants Captain." The man wore a somewhat loose but form fitting shirt that could be tied up near the neck, though it was open revealing some of skin. From the waist down he was clad in some form of leather like dark blue pants and short heeled boots that were mostly metal with some leather parts near the top, which ended almost at mid shin.

The woman behind the bar pouted. "Not for lack of trying, Pete."

"Who are you?" Erza asked keeping watch of the male who stayed between her and the other redhead who dared claim Aether as her's.

"I am Sarah Fortune, Captain of the airship Fortune's Bounty." The mixed eyed redhead said getting a nod from Erza. "Where did they take Aether?"

"Back to the Tower." Gajeel answered gaining Sarah's attention.

"I know where that is, and we'll make them pay." Sarah explained with a dangerous grin.

Sayla started to walk but Gajeel grabbed her wrist. "I want you to come with me to the Magic Council." He said getting a raised eyebrow. "It would be stupid to think nothing will happen to the Council with Aether captured."

"Lead the way." Sayla spoke gesturing with her free arm. Gajeel let go of the one had had grabbed then walked out of the bar with the gold horned demon in tow.

"The rest of you will come with me." Sarah said then walked out of the front doors of the bar. She reached into a pocket producing a key to lock the place up. Once that was done the key disappeared into the pocket from where it had come. "Follow me!" She commanded leading the way down the street. They walked for several minutes then the redhead wearing a hat took a left to one of the docks. She held open one of the double doors to the building. After the others were through Sarah took the lead again weaving her way through a maze of people to a railing.

"Wow." Gray commented as his eyes went over the ship before them. The massive floating structure was covered in armor plates with plenty of covers for cannons to reveal themselves. Overall the ship was of dark red and gleaming gold. On the side of the ship facing them was the name of the vessel clearly visible.

Sarah smiled. "This is my ship that I've had for years."

Lucy leaned barely over the rail noting a lack of water in the bay where Fortune's Bounty rested. "Is there magic holding the ship up?"

Sarah turned her eyes to the blond of the group. "There is magic holding the ship in place, though it is designed to fly in the air. However it can sail through waters just fine."

"Its already making me sick looking at it." Natsu said with a hand over his mouth while green colored his face.

Sarah laughed drawing attention. "The ship has built built in lacrima that helps those with motion sickness to any degree, so it doesn't effect them."

"That's good cause I didn't want to hear the constant groaning of this flaming idiot." Gray mentioned.

Sarha grinned. "We're about ready to leave." She said walking onto the ramp that led to the top deck of the airship. The others followed suit quickly not wanting to be left behind.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Cold hard stone greeted my senses while chains jingled at movement. Slowly my eyes opened to show familiar brown stone and metal bars off to my left. My body was utterly numb which was not a good sign, besides the number of slashes and stab marks along my body. Each of those wounds were partially cauterized from the holy instruments used to make them and my own biology. All of my arms were bound by chains though my tail was free of any. That seemed odd though I'll take that over having it bound as well. Moving my arms let me know that the lower set was bound behind me while the other was hung on something above me.

Flicking my ears this way and that let me pick up distant voices from several males. Guards probably. Glancing over the room I occupied let me see that it was barren. However one corner next to the bars was covered in shadows. Closing my eyes in concentration I focused pulling the two upper arms apart hearing metal groan at the action. After a few seconds the chains broke with a clink. I tried summoning void energy to break the lower chains on my arms though nothing came from it. Again I tried with the same result. Then I touched my throat. My fingers grazed an all too familiar collar.

 _Guess I gotta do this the hard way._ I mentally commented reaching behind me to unwind the chains. That was a lot easier said then done. After some time I pried a part of the chains together letting me move the lower arms. It felt much better to have them free than not. Looking at my wrists the metal around them was simple chains with no visible magic to them at all. _Why metal chains when I was bound by Blessed Chains before?_ I thought but changed gears quickly. I could ponder that later. I shifted as quietly as possible to the corner blanketed in darkness.

My ears picked up the thudding of armored boots about a minute later. Those came closer till the helmet of a guard was visible. The person in question was of average height and in full plate mail armor of the Southern Cross, however the armor appeared dull in color. One hand quickly went to the sword handle at the waist. Every bit of body language screamed for alert. My tail twitched ready to strike out with speed when the time was right.

"Wasn't there a bound demon here?" A voice from the armor spoke letting me know it was a male from the tone. With one hand he reached for something then keys jingled. Then he unlocked the bars sliding them to his left at me. The keys went back to his waist then a weapon was drawn. A steel sword gleamed in the light of torches before he entered the cell.

Poor bastard. With a foot between him and the opening of the cell my tail lashed out. The limb wrapped around his throat silencing protest. It did not take long for sword to fall from his hands, though I caught it by the handle before it hit the ground. I calmly watched the young man struggle with my tail constricting tighter and tighter. His armored hands were unable to grasp any part of the limb chocking him. Slowly eyes rolled back as the man went slack. I lowered him the ground gently and unwound my tail from the neck. I check for a pulse and found none.

A grin came to my face before I left the cell. As I remembered this area was like a single lane road lined with holding cells for prisoners. However many of them looked as if the hadn't been used in years. If the Tower has been completed where did the ones who built it stay? Was Southern Cross the one to help it get built? Flickering light caught my attention with the thud of armored boots. At the end of the hallway was a doorway that I hid next to in one corner. I waited a few seconds for the armored soldier to pass through the entrance, then I stabbed the sword through the neck.

Gurgles were the only thing that left the mouth of the guard. As with before I lowered the corpse to the ground leaving the torch where it fell. I moved on from there to one of the open caverns. Not many Southern Cross soldiers walked in the area, leaving plenty of space for one to be out of sight of the others. I took my time going around the room stealth killing the soldiers one by one, leaving them on the ground with their gear. I did steal a few weapons that I strapped to my waist or on my back. Thankfully I was human sized otherwise I wouldn't be able to tie weapon straps over my form. At the far side of the cavern was a passage blocked by two half asleep guards.

Using my tail I pulled out the short blade I had tied around my left thigh. I readied to launch it at the throat of one guard while a blade in my upper right hand was ready for the other. The first weapon was the short blade going where I had intended then the other guard died seconds later from the other thrown blade. Looking around I didn't see any living guards so that gave me time to see if the collar on my neck was like the one I used to have in here.

 _Collar of binding, release me._ I thought waiting for something to happen. A minute passed by without change. That meant the collar was different but held the same function since I couldn't use magic. If thought commands didn't work I could do something else. I wiggled my fingers under the collar with some effort. Once there was enough for a comfortable grip I pulled. Nothing happened despite the effort I put into the motion to break apart the collar. With a sigh I removed my fingers then retrieved the weapons I had thrown. The collar has to be removed by something else, but what? Shaking my head I went down the passage.

At the end of it another large room greeted me, though this one had a number of levels to it. This area had far more paladins than the last big room. They had spread themselves out so that each paladin was in view of at least one other. Regardless of that I needed to find what could get the collar off my neck. The pathway I was at put me at one of the higher areas of the room. On various levels were the guards who all were staring down at the lowest level. Many people of various ages stood and moved around barrels. Around the necks of the people a collar shined in the lights from above.

A guard in dull golden armor walked up to one of the smaller people. There was some exchange before an armored fist knocked down the male. What followed was a sword to the chest spilling bright blue blood. One of my hands tightened into a fist with rage burning in my blood. With some effort I ignored that watching another in silver colored armor walk up to the corpse. That guard pulled out a blue-white colored crystal, which was tapped onto the collar. Said collar snapped apart letting the guard in solver armor remove it. Two other guards came to collect the body and moved it. The guard in silver armor walked away from the main floor before going up a ramp.

"What happened to the demon that Commander Nyvella brought with her?" The one in silver armor spoke. The voice echoed a little with the open room though I could tell that it belonged to an old male. As he made his way up another ramp a another soldier came to him.

Said soldier was about the same average height of the one in silver armor. That guard snapped a salute. "She was locked up in the East Wing."

"East Wing?" The older male said turning. Quickly I slid back through the doorway I had entered hoping that he hadn't seen me. I focused on hearing shifting my ears this way and that. Silence stretched for some time then his voice sounded again. "Go make sure that demon is still where it was left."

"Yes, Sir!" The younger of the males replied quickly. From there armored boots echoed away from my hiding spot.

I waited for a bit before going back to the perch I had seen the slaves from. The slaves hammered away at anvils making some form of armor plating. In total there was about thirty some slaves in this room, with the one that had been killed earlier replaced already. Scattered around the room were a lot of items that could easily be a weapon in my hands, such as giant stone pillars that no human could lift or large pieces of solid metal with a jagged edge on one side. Of course the lot of those items were on the bottom level with the slaves and lots of guards. My eyes landed on a tent across the room from where I was that the silver armored man sat down doing some sort of paper work or reading a book, I wasn't sure which.

The left ear on my head twitched picking up the sound of a deafened boom. Seconds later the ground shook as an explosion occurred. Following that was a barrage of more explosions that blew dust and smoke into the lower part of the room through gaps in the stone to let sunlight in.

"We're under attack from an airship!" One of the paladins hollered before getting a bunch of them to charge out of the room.

An airship? There was only one person I knew who had one, Sarah Fortune. That woman is a dangerous one whom can give me a run for my money on looks. Then there is the fact she has incredible marksmen skills with her twin pistols. That skill also applied to nearly any ranged weapon. For whatever reason Sarah liked to wear the cloths that one might associate with the mafia, including the stereotypical hat. I took the opportunity to stretch my arms over my head. It wasn't really a surprise she came here since that woman has wanted to get into my pants since the first time I met her years ago.

Shaking my head I re-focused on the silver armored man seeing him stand up sharply and turn. The eyes under the helmet widened when they saw me, though I didn't care. With practiced speed I grabbed the sword on my back and threw it at him. The weapon came flying at him, but a drawn sword deflected the weapon.

"The sacrificial demon is free!" The man boomed with the words echoing in the room loudly.

That got the attention of those still inside. Some two dozen paladins turned their attention to the speaker. _So much for stealth._ I grunted.

"Capture the demon!" A number of paladins shouted at once.

Capture? Was I really that important to them? This way they will come to me at least. I grinned before charging down the ramp to my right. While going down it I drew the short blade and another sword strapped to my waist. The upper hands held those while I grabbed the remaining dagger with the lower left that was also at my waist. Running past the first pillar on the way to the other side of the room a paladin came up to attack. With a flick of my wrist blood gushed from the sliced throat. Continuing on three charged me at once from the front.

I threw the dagger at the front most one, burying it in the throat. The other two paused to watch their friend die. That gave me an opening to sever their heads from their bodies. Crimson blood sprayed all over the stone and me with some landing on my face. The bits of blood near my lips I licked up. Human blood was tasty though it wasn't as beneficial for me as the blood of my own kind. They kept lining up in front of me making for easy kills. By this point I was down the ramp from where Silver Armor's tent was. Two charged at me from behind while another pair attacked from the front. Turning sharply I slashed at their throats with the lower right hand. Blunt force tore through the throat of one then I grabbed the other with that hand.

I wasted little time crushing the throat before letting go of the body. I took their weapons giving me two more swords to wield for a total of four in my hands. Crouching down I stabbed the lower blades behind me getting screams of pain in reply. I parried two swords with the ones in my upper hands then spun around to face them. The swords stuck in them sliced through whatever part of the legs they had been in. The sight before me was bloody to say the least. Both males had lost a leg from the thigh down where I had stabbed them.

I silenced their agony with a sword to the heart each. Then I went to the top. The One in silver armor was waiting for me with a sword in each hand. Hands gripped the weapons tightly before he surged forward. For one in plate mail he moved fast. However I was faster, leaning out of the way of one blade before parrying the other. Within moments his weapons came at me again so I parried each of them. This went on for about ten more seconds with me parrying all of the strikes the paladin aimed at me. Just as I parried another swing my tail shot out to wrap around the right arm.

With a powerful squeeze bones cracked audible along with the metal armor covering the forearm. With that he dropped one blade. That was the opening I used to cut off the other armed hand and impale a blade into his heart. The tail unwound from the arm at the same time the man fell to the floor. Just to make sure the paladin was dead I cut off his head and kicked it down into the lower area of the room. Shocked gasps reached my ears before I walked to the edge of his platform. Below the slaves looked up to where I was with hope and some measure of fear.

"You are saved." I said boomed from my spot. Turning around I searched the silver armored paladin for the crystal I had seen earlier. It wasn't on his person so the tent was next. Going through the thing took a little time, but I found the crystal on a desk. Also on that desk was a pile of paperwork about this tower. As I saw before once the crystal was tapped to the collar it came off. Feeling the flow of power once again was invigorating to say the least. With that I felt Sarah and her crew at the docks making their way towards this room. With a thought a clone materialized. "Lead the group of slaves below me to the snakewoman's crew."

"Right away!" The clone chirped before jumping down over the ledge to them.

I winced with my stomach clenching tightly and growling audibly. That was a reminder that I hadn't eaten in a while. Going back into the tent I devoured what food was in there. That took the majority of the edge off though I was still hungry. Sensing a strong magic source running my way I exited to see a man in colorful gold and crimson robes. A shotgun materialized vaporizing the man's head seconds later. Robes would be easier to take off than the plate mail armor of the paladins. The cloth ripped easily so getting to the bare am took little time. Then I took a bite of the limb.

On autopilot I drank blood from the arm connected to the headless body. It wasn't as flavorful as Void Demon blood but it wasn't exactly horrible either. It did a job of filling me up more, but I was also wanting solid food too. On that note I chomped down harder taking a bite of the flesh. It was tender with a kind of flat taste. Ignoring that I ate some more of the arm to the bone. After that I conjured clothing onto my form that was a skirt and bandages wrapped around my breasts, also putting the collar crystal into one of my storage pockets. I sensed the area feeling a small army of paladins within the tower and a Wizard Saint level power at the top. However there were dark spots that I couldn't feel inside of, kind of like not being able to hear what goes on in a sound proofed room from outside. It was possible to block the senses of a Void Demon, though it wasn't easy.

Among the things I sensed was the Paladin that bested me before. Wiping blood off from my mouth with a hand I sprinted away aiming for that one. I left a trail of bodies as I went through the halls killing any that got in my way. One room caused me to stop since it had a large stone table that could be used for meetings. Sounds echoed from down other halls letting me know I wasn't alone. However the presences were familiar. It wasn't long before a number of faces appeared from a large hallway to this room.

"Aether!" Lucy yelled as her eyes came to me. She quickly took a step back with a slight look of fear. "Why is there blood at your mouth?"

"Humans are edible and I was hungry." I replied seeing the blond shiver. Seconds later my head was grabbed and shoved into something.

"I'm thrilled you're safe!" Chirped the excited voice of Sarah Fortune. That woman had an iron grip on my head, keeping it in her cleavage. It wasn't long before her grip was undone and arms wrapped around me wearing cold metal.

"She's mine." Erza said with clear possessiveness.

"Hello love." I said hugging Erza back with all four arms. We stayed like that for ten seconds then she turned to face the others.. "I assume the haste of their arrival was your doing?"

Sarah grinned with a nod. "There was no way for you not to hear the cannons."

I shook my head. "Of course not, though I sent some slaves to your crew with a clone." Sarah nodded at that.

"What the hell is this place?" Gray spoke drawing our attention. He looked around and so did I. THere were a number of passages that led from here to deeper within the tower. Strange symbols dotted the walls eerily similar to the ones I remembered from my childhood. All around red earth dominated the color scheme.

After a time his eyes came back to mine. Again there was a hard look in them, the type that demanded an answer. I closed my eyes and sighed then opened them. "A relic of our past." I said hugging Erza a little tighter to me.

"What does that mean?" Happy spoke from atop Natu's shoulder.

At those words a slight shudder went through the redhead in my arms. "Remember when I said that I lived in hell for a time?" Lucy nodded. "This place is where that hell was lived."

"What?!" The voices of Natsu, Lucy, and Gray echoed at once.

"Welcome!" An all too familiar voice boomed from magical speakers. My blood ran cold at it. "This is the Tower of Heaven."

"So this is the voice of that bastard." Sarah commented with a hint of venom.

"With the arrival of the of Erza and the others the board is ready." Jellal's voice echoed with eerie calm.

"Ready for what?" Gray asked staring at the mouth shaped speaker at the top of a pillar ahead of us next to a long stairway leading up.

"The Magic Council has their satellite cannon aimed at this tower." Jellal said generating surprised looks from everyone, though I kept calm. "You must fight your way through Southern Cross and defeat me to win the game. However if Southern Cross defeats you I shall win. And if you do not defeat me within the next hour the satellite cannon will fire and destroy us all."

"Are you insane?!" Erza boomed taking a step from me.

"Time is ticking." Jellal added with laughter which faded slowly after the speaker shrunk back into the stone.

"We're gonna die!" Natsu and Happy shouted at the same time before running around like idiots followed by Gray.

They went like that for nearly three minutes while I stared at the pillar. The calm in his voice before laughter meant that he had a plan to deal with the satellite cannon if it was over the tower at this moment. "Silence!" I barked stopping the three idiots at once. Would he block the satellite cannon somehow? Redirect that massive amount of energy it would fire? Or reflect it to the sky with something? Feeling a unknown presence I threw out my lower left arm and unleashed a blast of Void Energy.

A surprised grunt came from the shadows at the edge of the room to my left. From those shadows a large man with plenty of muscle walked out with hands up. Dark pants covered his legs with sandals on his feet. The torso was bare except for a sash of cloth that wrapped around from the waist to over the far shoulder. A helmet similar to a turban having a lower section like the lower jaw of a human sat on the head of the male. An eye patch covered one of his eyes though I recognized the visible hazel color of the other one.

"S-Simon?" My voice trembled quietly as eyes widened.

A gentle smile came to the man's face. "It is good to see you after all this time sister." The moment his arms lowered I jumped at him to hug the human tightly.

"Sister?!" The others said at the same time with confusion clear in their voices.

Simon grunted at my impact but stayed standing with a shift of his feet. "I am not her actual brother. However we grew up in this tower together."

This close it was impossible to miss the magical energy within Simon. "I feel magic active within you." I said before stepping back from the human that was a little taller then myself at this height.

Simon chuckled. "All of us can use magic now."

"Where are the others?" Erza asked at the same time I felt a holy presence near us. With a flick of my tail Void Lighting sparked down the passage on the left side of the stairs up. A bright flash of light appeared at the same time a scream of pain thundered from the passage.

"I do not know where the others are unfortunately." Simon said glancing between me and the hallway I launched Void Lightning down.

All of a sudden something clicked as to why Jellal sounded so calm about the satellite cannon. "How much of this tower is made of lacrima crystal?"

"The vast majority of the tower is made of it." Simon supplied.

"What the hell does this guy want with that much magic power?" Sarah said so we turned to her. The woman had her hands on her hips. "And you two owe them an explanation." She gestured with her head to Natsu, Happy, Gray, and Lucy.

I took a deep breath then let it out slowly. "Remember the obelisk in Gruen?" I said getting nods from them. "I was among the children captured in the assault that day. After wards those captured were brought by boat to this tower. The children and some adults were put into slavery to make the Tower of Heaven for a bunch of Zeref cultists." I paused lacing venom into the last two words. Repressing memories of that day I continued. "Slavery was not the only thing in store for those brought to the tower. Void Demon Pit fighting was arranged monthly by the controlling cultists for their own amusement."

Lucy took a step back with a hand over her mouth looking pale. "That's horrible." Gray simply nodded slowly not saying a word.

Natsu punched one hand into the palm of the other. "Sounds like fun!" He grinned excitedly.

Rage boiled in my blood. "Fun!?" I hissed focusing furious eyes to the Dragonslayer at the same time my tail started twitching. Immediately he noticed something off before I walked over to grab his jacket and lift him off the ground with ease. "Do you think its fun when you are force to slaughter your friends just to see the next day!?" I growled darkly. The Dragonslayer's eyes widened in both fear and realization. Almost a minute passed then I let go taking steps away from the battle hungry Dragonslayer.

"That is evil." Sarah commented with fury laced into her words.

Taking deep breaths to calm down I focused my senses on the Tower again. I felt the black areas once again feeling some of them linked while others were on their own. Ignoring that I turned to face them again. "I was a pit fighter that never lost a fight while I was enslaved here."

"No wonder you kill so easily." Gray muttered though I heard it clearly.

I nodded slowly. "The blood of hundreds are on my hands from this place alone..."

"I'm hurt that you forgot about us." A voice echoed in the air. I trembled hearing it, as it was another voice from my past. The magic in the air was unfamiliar but there was only one person I could guess that voice belonged to. It wasn't long before crackling lightning filled the air above us before funneling to the stairs ahead of us taking on two forms. The blue glow of electricity faded to reveal two individuals, one male and the other female. The male had blue hair that reached his shoulders with slight waves and brown eyes. His build was an athletic one that could hide a lot of physical strength. The clothing on his form was that of a black long sleeve shirt, black pants, and dark brown boots.

It was obvious that the female was a Void Demon due to her eyes being the same silver as mine. Her black hair reached past her bust to maybe mid back appearing straight. Like the male her clothing consisted of cargo pants that were black in color, a v-neck t-shirt of dark red, and black boots. The female grinned as her eyes wandered down then up before changing colors. My jaw hung open a bit when silver switched out for lilac. "Still a freak of nature, huh?" She still looked very much like the human girl I had grown up with, but a mature version in terms of voice and appearance.

"Freak of nature?" Natsu repeated getting a nod from the female.

"Aether could use magic at the age of three." The female responded waving a hand at me.

"Seriously?" Lucy and Gray spoke at the same time.

"Yeah." I supplied. "What happened to you two while I was gone Kayla, Jack?"

"You betrayed us!" Another voice shouted, though a lot more high pitched than I was expecting. From the passage with the dead paladin came another male who was slim wearing brown pants over his legs. On his chest was some form of white shirt under an open dark purple jacket. On the left cheek below that eye was a familiar symbol.

"Betrayed you?" I said as the male walked into the light. A gasp left Erza's mouth as her body trembled once more.

The short haired blond pointed an accusing finger at me. "You destroyed the ships to prevent us from leaving!"

I chuckled darkly getting a slightly fearful expression from the blond male. "I was no where near the ships when they exploded, I was in one of the caverns with Erza in my arms unconscious."

Shock exploded onto the male's face. "Jellal said you destroyed the ships." His voice trembled as if he was struggling to understand something. "He also said you abandoned us."

"I was thrown out from the base of the Tower with Erza by Jellal himself after the two of us battled." I replied keeping my eyes on the slim male. "Erza nor I would abandon you willingly Sho."

Simon walked over the shorter male and placed one hand on a shoulder. "It was Jellal that destroyed the boats to prevent us from leaving."

Sho put hands on his head as tears formed in his eyes. "Then why did he teach us magic? And keep us here?"

I sighed. This was largely what I had expected as it reminded me of his response in the series itself. "I can't tell you why he taught you magic but he kept you here as hostages. It was a way to ward off me and the Magic Council to what he was doing, that is until he needed the most important thing for this tower."

"A sacrifice." Kayla supplied walking down the steps to the on the same level as us. "And the two possibles are Aether Wade and Erza Scarlet."

Sho reached into the left pocket of his jacket with a crazed look on his face. I started walking slowly back sensing magic start to build. "I will protect my big sisters and make Jellal pay for lying to me!" He screamed throwing out his left arm. From that came magic in the form of a card. On instinct I moved my upper right arm up at an angle charged with void magic. The void magic crackled as it dismantled and rendered the magic Sho sent my way useless. In his hands was a card with a moving image of Erza on it.

"Let me out of here!" Erza yelled pounding on some form of wall that blocked out the sound of her gauntlet. Sho ignored the redhead putting the card close to his chest before running down one of the hallways before us.

"Sho!" I barked hearing my voice echo from the halls without a reply. "That fool." I hissed slamming my lower left arm and tail onto the stone table breaking it into pieces. That action caused Lucy and Gray to jump a little.

"We need to split up and stop Jellal." Sarah said with a commanding tone.

"Roger!" Natsu and Happy replied in unison while standing at attention. The sight bright a tiny smile to my lips.

"Can't resurrect what isn't dead." I muttered under my breath then sensed out for Sho. He was a bit ahead of me though it would be easy to catch up assuming he didn't go into any of the areas blocked off from my sensing.

"We can lead you through most of this Tower, but Southern Cross will try to kill us all." Jack spoke.

I turned to two of my oldest foster siblings. "Jack, Kayla. Take good care of them." They nodded then I bolted down the hallway containing the crispy paladin corpse. Like a predator I followed Sho's trail with haste. The paladins who got in the way were dispatched by bullets to the head. Several intersections of hallways flew by then the hairs on my neck stood up. I slid to a stop looking around me. Golden white crystals dotted the walls of the massive room I had entered. It was rectangular in shape with sectioned out parts of the floor that contained water that was steaming. Through the pools of water was a slightly raised wooden walkway with arches here and there along it going to the far side of the room from where I stood.

I wasn't quite sure what this room was supposed to be so I extended my senses. Immediately biting pain flared in my head, though I could feel that I wasn't the only one in this room. I was unable to sense the rest of the Tower thanks to those crystals that radiated holy magic. Turning to my other senses I moved carefully through the room, doing my best to minimize the sound of claws scratching stone. I could see a number of rock formations that seemed to border a lot of the water pools as if to give some measure of privacy. Considering the steaming water and visual barriers in the form of rocks there was only one thing this room could be, some sort of bathing area.

My ears twitched at soft sounds near me. These were quiet enough that it was like someone was muffling sounds? Why? I made my way closer to where the sounds came from then paused once I heard it clearly. Hushed moans reached my ears making me quietly shake my head. Moving to peer just past the side of the rocks next to me let me see two humans fucking with their backs to me. Shaking my head again a sword appeared in my upper left hand as I took note of their position. I smirked seeing that they were next to the pool and not in the water. As quietly as possible I dashed to them. My tail crushed the throat of the female before she could scream in protest at the same time I plunged the sword into the man's throat with a hand over his mouth.

Blood splashed out from the mouths of both humans, but they died quietly nonetheless. Wanting to keep it that way I lowered their bodies to the floor slowly. I dismissed the sword while moving away from the corner where the two had chosen to have sex. After another minute or so the smell of blood hit my nose. The smell was a mixture of fresh and old blood, then a strong lemongrass scent followed it. I tracked that to one of the further back pools where a woman sat alone in the steaming water that stopped at just before the top side of her bust. The water was not clear being tinged red from visible wounds that looked familiar. I could see that the marks from my clawed toes had been stitched shut. For whatever reason the paladin before me seemed to be asleep with her head leaned back onto two stacked towels.

I moved to stand in front of her crossing both sets of arms in front of my chest. "This is unexpected." I spoke getting a groan from the brown haired paladin. Her head slowly rose up and her eyes opened, revealing dark green I had seen before.

"Ah, hell." She muttered groaning again. "Here I am low on magic and still wounded yet you are completely healed after three days."

"One of the many strengths of a Void Demon." I commented watching the paladin before me. She made no move to attack or to erect some form of barrier. "What are you going to do human?"

"What do you mean?" She asked keeping her eyes on me.

My tail swayed slowly behind me from side to side, ready to move at a moments notice. "What are you going to do from here? I've found you in a weakened state with little power to pose a threat. Do you run from me and this tower to live another day? Surrender and agree to spend possible time in Council jail? Or do you try and capture me like the other paladins here?"

She snorted. "What does it matter to you?"

"I am giving you a choice to decide your future." I replied before the Lightning Empress Spear materialized hovering above the water's surface.

"Choice?" She ground out furrowing her brows. A slight rise of magic power came from her, though it was nothing that I was worried about. "What choice did I have but to join Southern Cross when my family was slaughtered by your kind on my tenth birthday?" The paladin countered having a sad look cross her face briefly to be replaced by anger. "They welcomed me and taught me the skills to get revenge on your kind for taking my family from me."

I snorted. "Typical story." She glared at me with a bit more magic coming from her giving a golden glow to her eyes. "Just because some Void Demons killed your family it makes all of my kind evil?" Her glare stayed the same but the glow in her eyes got a little brighter. "Does one human killing his or her family make all of humanity evil? Or monstrous?"

"No." She immediately replied.

I smirked making one eyebrow rise. "Same principal. Void Demons are no different from humans when it comes to good and evil. Some of us are monsters while others are not. The most vile monsters I've come across were all fully human." I paused noting that I had her full attention and that her glared had lessened a lot. "As a child I was forced into slavery and pit fighting within this very tower, and it was _humans_ who organized the whole thing." The paladin's eyes widened loosing their golden glow to shock with my emphasis on humans. "The worst of the humans that once ran this tower would let a group of Void Demon slaves become friends. After that had happened he would round up that group and throw the into one pit, forcing them to kill each other to see the next day."

"Why are you telling me this? A Paladin of Southern Cross?" The brown haired human inquired stretching arms over her head. Once they got all they way above her head she winced.

"To give you a dose of reality." I supplied unfolding my arms to a relaxed position. "And like I said, I am giving you a choice that decides your future."

"Why?"

I shrugged. "I don't know." That was a good question. Why was I giving her the ability to make a choice regarding her future now instead of out right killing her? Was it because I wanted to try something different than usual? Did I see the same potential in her as I did with Nezar? My ears twitched with the sounds of heavy steps. I turned quickly grabbing the spear with my tail and side kicking whoever had been coming for me. The shocked face of a giant man was before me doubled over where my foot had hit him center mass. The massive muscle bound male crashed through several rock formations then splashed into a pool across the room from me.

"Spark!" The paladin behind me yelled accompanied by the sound of sloshing water.

I glanced over my shoulder at her. _So the big man is named Spark?_ I mused internally. Turning back to the giant man named Spark I readied the spear. The tip of the weapon unleashed a beam of electricity at where he had landed. The electricity raced for him then exploded into a storm that circled. I watched it with a raised eyebrow then noticed it race for me charged up and glowing golden blue. The blood bound shield materialized before me deflecting the holy charged electricity to the ceiling. Dust and earth fell from the blast raining down next to the wooden walkway. It hovered in front of me then silently shifted to the side. My eyes narrowed on the man in front of me. Electricity tinted gold danced around his form with excited energy.

The grin on his face was almost feral. "Electricity won't work on me demon."

His name at least made sense now. Seeing as electricity won't get me anywhere I'll use another element with the shielding vanishing. An equally feral grin crept to my lips as void fire erupted around me. The Lightning Empress Spear was dismissed since his power rendered it useless. I charged at the human surging forward. He vanished in a flash of light racing to my left. I spun punching the ground with my right fists. Along with a storm of void fire earth twisted and rose in a spiked wave. That wave came for the roughly human shaped blur of electricity slicing into some of it. Crimson blood spilled form the glowing shape that quickly changed direction. Moments after my fists connected to the floor a small quake shook the stone.

I watched the concussive wave flow outwards before hitting the moving electricity. It screamed as Spark was forced back into human form. Blades of void fire formed with a thought speeding to impale the paladin. Despite his size the human rolled out of the way in time with a grunt. My form flashed before the Flight Armor appeared, one of the few current armors able to be worn with my Secondary Form. I dashed to the right getting behind the massive guy kicking him in the side. Void fire and a concussive blast erupted from the point of impact sending the giant man into another part of the room.

Screams came from the point where he had slammed into the far wall creating another dust could. "Make this interesting paladin!" I called with excitement running through my veins. Hearing movement I surged to the location hammering an uppercut with both left arms into his chest. He went flying into the ceiling raining down more chunks of stone and dust. Blood dripped down from there to land on my face before electricity raced from there to a distance from me. Power surged from his form taking on a storm like appearance then it formed into two weapons of pure electricity laced with holy energy.

He pointed one of the two giant long swords at me. "I will show you the power of my name." With that more electricity sparked around him.

My grin grew displaying one of my fangs. I called forth power focusing on the earth around me. It answered taking parts from the floor next to me to float up then form two items. Giant blades of hardened and razor sharp earth laced with potent void magic formed in the air to both sides of me. I grabbed them with both sets of hands feeling the heavy weight of the weapons. They were heavy enough that it required both sets of hands on either side to use them, or at least two of my four hands.

"I will ground your thunder and kill you human." I commented pointing both of my weapons at him in a similar fashion to the paladin. I held my two weapons in the same manner that he did, as if duel wielding one handed swords. One blade over my head with the other around stomach level, both aimed at him. Each of the blades was massive probably weighing more than the average person could lift on their own. The tops of the weapons were rounded and safe while the bottom side of the blades sported a long straight edge that angled up for a sharp point near the tip of the blade.

He charged at me from the front readying a blade to downward strike. Before he got in range I coated my tail in void earth with a spike like blade at the end, giving me a third weapon to slice the paladin up with. I used my tail to parry the downwards strike getting a look of surprise from him. With that pause I dashed at him with the right blade coming down at an angle. His left blade blocked the weapon but pushed his blade to the uncovered part of his armor. As his eyes focused on that I went to attack with the left blade. The weapon made a slight whistle as it went through the air alerting him to something.

Spark's eyes widened then he jumped back. The left blade got him with just the tip leaving a slash from mid forearm on the right side to left shoulder. At the same time the blade he had blocked sliced just below the shoulder. Blood droplets rained from the two wounds with movement dotting the floor. Spark slid to a stop roughly four meters away from me narrowing his eyes. This time I charged him going for a double vertical swing. He flashed out of the way in electricity dodging my attack. Both weapons slammed into the ground throwing up a storm of earth chunks, water, and dust. The room itself seemed to rumble from the impact. He wasted little time coming for me from my right. Immediately I turned thrusting the left blade out.

Spark had side stepped just in time to avoid the most damage, though the edge of the weapon caught him. The paladin made one dangerous mistake. Seconds later my tail impaled through his side just below one of his lungs splashing more blood on me. Spark coughed up some blood then tried to reach behind him with one weapon. Seeing this I pulled back my tail receiving a light slash that wasn't deep, but it stung. Using the Flight Armor's speed I vanished to behind the man taller than Simon and just as muscle bound. Both weapons slashed at opposite angles marking a deep X into his bare back causing him to scream out in pain. Feeling a rise in electricity I surged away barely dodging furious holy infused lightning.

Once stopped I knelt down stabbing both swords into the ground. They buried to about half the length of the weapons. I clapped my upper hands together once and put the lower ones onto the ground. **"Chaotic Resonance!"** void energy erupted from me in a potent burst. A wave of energy went out tripping Spark and removing the electricity that had been covering his form and the two weapons he had conjured. That wave of energy reached the edges of the room and exploded upon contact with the glowing crystals.

Spark took a step then slipped on something so he crashed onto his back again with a grunt. He stood up relatively fast pushing an arm forward at me, though nothing happened. "The hell?" He commented once again flicking an arm at me to no effect.

"Your thunder is grounded." I said sprinting forwards and summoning a shotgun into my upper hands and another into the lower ones. Within a second I stopped in front of the man pointing one gun at his heart and the barrel of the top weapon under the chin. I paused momentarily to see fear grip the man's eyes. Then I pulled the triggers spraying blood and brains from the head over me and the area. From the heart area blood sprayed out into one of the pools. The corpse fell back with a splash into the already bloody pool from the lower of the two shotguns.

The moment I opened my hands both weapons vanished and I walked back over to where the brown haired paladin was. She stared at me surprised right as I summoned a flask containing void blood. I drank it all feeling the remaining wounds from my earlier torture knit themselves together. It also let me recover the power I had expended fighting Spark. Once the flask was empty I dismissed it. The armor also vanished and the clothing from earlier appeared on me again. Seconds later the two swords I had conjured vanished going to the weapon pocket dimension.

"Why are you wanting to give me a choice?" she said getting back into the pool I had found her in. She hissed a bit sitting down on a ledge in the water.

I held up my upper left arm with the forearm facing the paladin. "Do you think a Void Demon would be let into a guild if they were as evil as you think all of my kind is?" For emphasis I pointed to the blue Fairy Tail mark.

Her eyes widened in shock. "You are a member of that guild?!"

"Maybe the reason I am giving you a choice is because that is something our guildmaster would do." I shrugged.

The paladin turned her gaze to the water's surface for a time. With a sigh she looked up to me as I sat down cross legged on the edge next to the steaming pool. "As you noted before I am no threat to you as I am currently. I surrender to you and will undergo whatever punishment is determined."

"Thank you for thinking this offer over." I said summoning a pair of magic handcuffs that sealed any and all magical power. She held out her hands obediently making it easier to put the cuffs on her wrists. I placed an index finger against the chains muttering a command word allowing them to extend a ways so she may be able to put on cloths but have magic sealed still. With a thought another clone materialized next to me standing. "Take her to Sarah's ship, though let the woman get dressed first." I commanded getting a salute from the clone.

"Catherine." The human said before standing up.

I tilted my head to the side slightly. "Hmm?"

"My name is Catherine." The paladin said exiting the pool of hot water.

A coin materialized in my upper right hand containing a roundish skull with crossbones behind it. I held it out to her. "Take this coin with you Catherine. It is one of Sarah's so the men and women of her crew will not harm you." Reluctantly she accepted the coin before I began walking to the far side of the room.

"With your power you could leave here easily, so why do you stay?" Catherine asked.

I stopped walking to look over my shoulder. The only things I could see in the paladin's eyes were curiosity and a sense of confusion. "Because there is someone I need to save from the darkness that claimed him years ago." With that I faced forwards and moved on. The door at the far side from where I entered led to a winding hallway. After some time that deposited me into another cavern. It was clear this room hadn't been touched in years with a layer of dust on various objects from swords to a metal cart filled with pieces of stone. Battle scars dotted the stone in countless places some larger than others. I stopped in the middle of the cavern with my eyes finding a scorched circle.

A tingle ran down my spine with memories coming to the surface. Before my eyes flashed the last moments of a human I couldn't forget. The explosion of magic that ripped his withered body apart was just as vivid as that day. My chest tightened in as I felt that pain again, feeling the wound that didn't fully heal. The upper right hand started shaking with more of those memories coming to the surface. Broken bodies of children and some adults marked the path to freedom paid with the price of blood. Taking a shaky breath I collected those memories shoving them to the back of my mind. At the same time I clenched the upper right hand closed to stop the shaking. Respectfully I stepped around the circular mark and moved further into the cavern. As I moved forward I felt a subtle pull like being beckoned to somewhere.

I followed that pull with the phantom sensation of a collar around my neck and chains around my wrists. I walked down familiar stone splashed here and there with dried and old human blood accompanied by some withered skeletons. The only thing down this long hallway was the scent of old dust and stale blood. I could see the ghostly images of human guards armed with spears and staves walking down the hall. It wasn't long before a four way intersection stopped me in my tracks. Scanning the area let me see that as with the cavern nothing had been this way in years, till now. The stone walls bore the scars of attacks from voidslayer magic, slices and sections missing from blunt strikes. I moved closer to one of the walls running the fingers of the lower left hand over a slice about hip height. I closed my eyes with a sigh then opened them seeing more ghostly images. This time it was four men in total with two of them holding a child between them as they went further down the hallway. However the other two traveled the opposite direction.

"This should be good." One of the ghosts commented as though the voice was distant and hollow.

The one walking next to the taller guard looked over his shoulder to the pair escorting the child. Despite the ghostly appearance a grin crept to his lips. "It definitely will be."

I watched the two ghosts walk form some time before fading out of sight after several meters in the direction of the other hallway. I retracted my hand from the wall and turned to go down the hallway I had never been to before. For some time it went on taking several upward turns via ramps instead of stairs until there was a double door of hardwood ringed in silver colored metal. I placed my upper left hand on the door feeling a sense of nervousness in my stomach. My ears twitched to the sounds of faint noise, though I couldn't tell what it was exactly. I looked behind me to see nothing but dust that was only disturbed by my foot prints of Secondary Form. I turned back pushing the door open slowly. It creaked audibly from the hinges as dust came off the double doors as they moved to open all the way. On the other side was a large largely squarish room also covered in a thick layer of dust. I resisted the urge to cough when the doors stopped moving with a quiet thud.

Before me was rows of stone seats that angled down like a stadium so that the floor far below them was visible. Along the far wall were doors with a faint sign visible on them to my eyes. On the wall to my right was several shelves with a number of containers that held who knows what. Opposite that wall was positioned the remains of kegs that once probably held some form of alcohol. There was maybe ten or twelve kegs in total while below them stretched a bar with a few wooden mugs left on it. I took one step into the room and felt the pull strongest, along with something else. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I felt a residual presence in the room, much like feeling heat from the embers of a put out fire. I focused on that feeling it encompass the whole room as if the room itself remembered something.

I blinked with my eyes widening. Before them sat several dozen males on the stone seats wearing some form of robes. Many of them held a mug in one hand while the other was held up or towards their mouths. Then I heard the distant echoing sounds of combat and the cheers from the men I saw in front of me. voices of many came to my ears at the same time like a chorus. Glancing down to the center of the room I saw ghostly shapes fighting and slaughtering each other, though I focused on one of them in particular. That one was smaller and more agile than the other shapes as it dodged out of attacks then countered with their own tearing limbs off of opponents. Tracking my eyes back to the stands let me hear their comments. Some of them were amazed at the skill one of the ghostly combatants displayed while some others groaned reaching into a pocket to hand something over to men next to them. At the wall next to the kegs stood six ghostly men with mugs watching the fight from their perch.

Once again memories came to the surface more powerful than last time. _Blood and sweat dominated my sense of smell with searing pain across my body. It was covered in more bruises and slices than I could count. Bodies of many children laid on the floor in shattered heaps missing limbs. My breathing was ragged, but so was the breath of the only other one left standing. Her body was beaten, bloodied, and ragged. Countless wounds dotted her body leaving little of her form untouched like my own. The only thing that burned in her silver eyes was pure determination. Her right arm changed into a blade as she charged for me. I countered changing my left arm into a Void Sword. we pushed against each other creating small sparks that flew from the two morphed arms grinding against the other._

 _"One of us has to kill the other." My opponent commented sadly. The female before me was larger though I kept her arm in place despite our size difference._

 _"We shouldn't have to!" I protested pushing harder against her._

 _She sighed casting her gaze to the side a little. "Sometimes we aren't given a choice Aether." A void charged fist hammered into my stomach making me double over a little before the force sent me flying. I hit the wall of the pit hard coughing up blood upon impact. Slowly I got to my feet with my arm already reverted to normal. The larger female reverted her arm too conjuring a spear of void energy readying to use it. I felt a mixture of emotions: sadness, betrayal, anger, and confusion. I gripped my head with a hand closing my eyes. Feeling frustrated with the mix of emotions at once I opened my eyes focusing on anger. With that I charged at her._

 ** _"Void Demon's Sword!"_** _I yelled changing the right arm into a void sword. I slashed up at an angle catching the blade of the void halberd. The impact cracked stone under the larger female's feet a little. Since her weapon was stuck I spun throwing the weapon to the side and sliced up her middle with the left arm I had also changed to a void sword. Bright blue blood flew from the deep cut from roughly the area of her right lung to just under the left shoulder. She shifted back a step, but I didn't let up. The next targets were her legs that I cut through as I completed a full turn. Once her legs were severed just above the knee I cut off her arms as her torso hit the blood stained floor._

 _"As I suspected." The female rasped coughing a few times after speaking. "You are stronger than I am."_

 _With her missing the limbs needed for movement I had a free shot at her neck. Severing it would kill her or I could stab her in the heart, which would also kill her. I readied my right arm positioning it over her heart. I held that position for some time as she watched me. It wasn't long before memories of the times the two of has shared in this tower came to me. She was several years older than I and someone I had looked up to like an older sibling. We worked together in the bladed rock pits often looking out for the other. My right arm started shaking with tears forming in my eyes._

 _"You have to kill me or you will die too." She spoke with barely a hint of regret._

 _My arm trembled more visibly. "How?" I choked failing to keep the tears from running down my cheeks._

 _The older Void Demon smiled. "Don't doubt yourself Aether. You are stronger than you think." She said in an almost motherly tone. "Promise to live for us okay?"_

 _With a shaky breath I nodded. With tears readily gowning down my face I stabbed one sword into her heart and the other into her throat. "Bye...Akira."_

"Who is Akira and why are you crying?" A voice said snapping me out from my memory. I turned around in haste to see Erza standing in the doorway with a concerned expression on her face. The redhead had her long hair put into a lengthy pony tail with bandages around her breasts and pants of red with a fire design at the bottom. her skin was a bit battle marked with some burned cuts along her arms and one or two on her abs.

"I'm crying?" I spoke feeling my face with a hand. As she had noted I was crying. My lower hands clenched tightly as I used the upper ones to clear the tears. "Remember our fight with The Commandant?" Erza nodded slowly walking up to me. She took hold of the upper hands in her two gently rubbing the joints with her thumbs.

"How could I forget that fight." She commented looking at my hands then her brown orbs shifted to my silver ones. "I remember you saying something strange."

I snorted lightly. "That I had something t live for?" She nodded again. "Akira is the reason I said that."

Erza tilted her head a little. "How?"

Relaxing the lower hands I gestured to the put below us. "This is the pit I would fight in each month back then. One time as a surprise The Commandant gathered me and a bunch of Void Demons I had been working with for several months, then put us all into that pit."

Erza's form stiffened a little. "You were...forced to kill each other." She said slowly.

"yes." I supplied. "There was 32 children thrown into that pit. At the end of the fight it was only me and Akira left standing. I had looked up to her a bit like an older sister as she was older than me by a few years. I made a promise before I killed her." I stopped feeling more tears trying to form and a shudder go through me. Erza let go of my hands before wrapping her arms around me. "I promised to live for the sake of the friends we had killed that day."

"I am sure they are proud of you." The redhead said as I hugged her. She broke apart from me grabbing the upper left hand. "Let's get out of this room." I nodded even though she had turned to face away from me. I followed her back out to the cavern where Rob had saved us all those years ago. Instead of going back to the hallway I had exited we went to another hallway. That went up in a ramp like fashion for a time then opened to a four way intersection.

I pulled the redhead to me and gave her a chaste kiss. "I'll see you at the top."

Erza smiled. "See you there Aether." With that she went to the right and I went the other way.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"This meeting has been called to finalize the choice of firing the satellite cannon, and the disappearance of Aether Wade." A tall man of lean build spoke from one end of a long rectangular table. The table itself was situated in a large open room with stairs to a walkway around the room at the far side from the entrance to said room. At the table sat a number of individuals, ten in total.

"I am still against firing the Etherion cannon." One of the older members of the room spoke with a firm tone. Silver eyes quickly focused on the Councilor in charge of the Magic Council's Executioners.

The silver eyed man smirked crossing one leg over the other, showing white slack pants. Upon his torso was a dark blue dress shirt. "You have made your point clear before Yajima."

The old man narrowed his eyes on the only non-human of the council. It was a strange thing to have a Void Demon on the ruling council. Especially one such as Lucien. That demon was always a hard one to read, adapt at hiding whatever he may be thinking about. After a pause Yajima let up his gaze on the Void Demon. He shook his head thankful that Aether wasn't in the room. If she was Aether would kill the Councilor again without hesitation in front of everyone. For some reason he couldn't quite gather Aether hated Lucien to the point of killing the other Void Demon whenever the two interacted, unless Executioner Cobra stopped her from doing so.

Another male in the room smirked folding his hands on the table. Vibrant short blue hair barely reached to the bottom of his ears in a wild fashion. Sharp eyes looked to the void demon in the room. Upon his for was white robes with blue trim. "And I made it clear that my twin brother needs to be stopped, even if the Etherion cannon has to be fired."

"I agree." Another male voice added coming from another of the shorter members, Michello. Next to his chair rested an old gnarled wooden cane that would be used to help him walk. Upon the old councilor's form was a robe light colored robe with stripes along the sides and sleeves. A bristle mustache of brown and musical note like eyebrows made it easy for him to stand out from the others. Then there was the light yellow tail similar to that of a cat that poked out from a back hole in the robe. "It is better that we stop him, even if some will die in the process."

"There are only a few things that can capture our most powerful Executioner." A female voice spoke up drawing eyes to her. As with a number of the councilors a cloak rested on her shoulders going over a purple turtleneck. Simple dark gray pants covered her legs with short heeled boots finishing her attire. Her sandy blond colored hair was tied back into a pony tail that fanned out with spiky portions. "I suspect that either Void's Saw or Southern Cross have managed to capture Aether again."

"Naturally Belno." Lucien scoffed quietly. "I bet it was Southern Cross since their magic is the weakness of my kind." Reaching into a pocket the Void Demon produced a small disc, then placed it onto the table in front of him. "Let's see where she is why don't we?" Once his hand left the disc a light flashed into existence above it. The light turned into a holographic image of a splendid tower. One that could be mistaken for a resort hotel with little trouble. Within the lower of the two middle sections a tiny red dot glowed steadily. "It seems our missing Executioner is within the tower the Etherion Cannon is positioned over."

"It doesn't matter." Another spoke finally speaking for the first time in the meeting. The man in question was one of the younger ones with dark shaded glasses over his eyes, masking them from view. As usual the man had the hood of his white and blue magic council robe up. The sideburns on his face went almost as far as his lips while the man's eyebrows always pointed down as if angry constantly. "As long as the evil of Seigrain's brother is stopped Aether Wade is an acceptable loss."

Belno glared at the glasses wearing male. _Leiji is willing to kill our best Executioner and a mother of three girls so readily just to end a threat?! Does that boy have no heart?_ The old female Councilor shouted internally. She was one of the few within the council whom knew about Aether's rape and resultant pregnancy. It was with her help that the Executioner was able to keep many others from knowing about it, most of all Sorcerer Weekly.

"Does this Council wish to fire the Etherion Cannon knowing that Aether Wade will be caught in the blast?" Another member of the Council spoke, this time the Chairman Crawford Seam. The man was by far the largest of the Councilors by sheer volume. His massive frame was rounded with a beard of white hair that reached the middle of his chest tied into two buns at the end. His dark undershirt could barely be seen peaking out from the open top of his white robes, which held a diamond pattern down the center. Atop the balding man's head was a bun of white hair. "What is the final vote for the firing of the Etherion Cannon?"

"I vote not to fire the Etherion Cannon." Yajima said resolutely.

"I also vote not to fire the Etherion Cannon." Belno answered clearly staring at the droopy eyes of Crawford Seam.

"I vote to fire the cannon although it will kill our finest Executioner." Lucien replied with a slight drop of his shoulders as if a little disappointed.

Crawford glanced around the room whose eyes were all on him. "Does the rest of the Council vote to fire?"

"Yes." The remaining six echoed in unison.

Crawford nodded. He folded his arms on the table in front of him. "Then it is decided. By majority vote the Etherion Cannon will be fired on the tower that Executioner Aether Wade is currently in."

Suddenly the light from the disc flickered out of existence and another image appeared in the middle of the rectangular table. This time it was a humanoid with four arms, a tail, wolf ears on a head of crimson hair, gray skin tone, and sharp silver eyes. One of Lucien's eyebrows rose while the others displayed some form of surprise and shock. It wasn't everyday that Aether Wade utilized projection magic. Nor for them to see the Void Demon in her Secondary Form.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Surprise lit the faces of nearly everyone for the Councilors of the Magic Council. That made a grin come to my face despite having to see that evil bastard Lucien. The immortal Void Demon only had one of his eyebrows raised. "I couldn't help but sense the Etherion Cannon above the tower. Do you plan on firing it?" I said turning to face the large man who was the Chairman of the Magic Council, Crawford Seam. There was something about him that always seemed off when I did talk to him. Not to mention I knew he wasn't what he seemed.

The large man quickly recovered composure displaying a face of regret. "The Council has voted to fire the Etherion Cannon on the tower you are currently within."

I smirked. "I'll be fine in that case." I commented hearing a few gasps from some of the Magic Councilors. With that I turned to face the other side of the table. While turning I couldn't help but feel some twisted satisfaction at the shaking form of the cat Councilor Michello. The short elderly man was terrified of me, which probably stemmed from the number of times I killed Lucien when we're in the same room. My gaze went over Belno who was the only other Councilor I was close to. She had been a massive help to hide my pregnancy from Sorcerer Weekly. She smiled slightly before my vision passed her. At the far side from Crawford sat Lucien with a familiar head of blue hair next to him on his left. I lifted an arm and pointed at that male. "I am coming for you Jellal Fernandez." The blue haired male stiffened slightly. At that I closed my eyes ceasing the projection magic. After a few seconds I opened my eyes seeing the stone of the tower again. Although it was easy for me to use that magic I generally didn't use it. Sensing the tower again I felt that Sho had stopped within a large room with a few others that I didn't know from their magical presence. Erza on the other hand was in another fight from the spiking of her powers.

Another thing that caught my attention was a strong void presence on its own a floor above me. The presence was powerful and not quite full for lack of a better term. It felt kinda similar to Erza who at this point was half Void Demon and half human. Along with that above me was another presence sickeningly familiar. Although it was familiar the twisted feeling from that presence was different. It clearly felt holy though vile at the same time. Erza can hold her own so I ignored where she was to head to the single source of void energy I could sense. Feeling three paladins patrolling down a hallway near me I summoned a large caliber pistol.

The weapon was designed for non human hands such as mine in Secondary Form. The pistol could only fire eight shots before needing to reload, but the firepower was nearly comparable to a rifle. I turned the corner to see surprised faces of three men about my age from the look of it. Wasting little time I fired one round at the right knee of the front most paladin. A scream echoed from his throat at the same time the bullet severed the leg at the joint. The back one raised an arm holding a pistol training it on me. Before the man could I fired another round severing that arm from the shoulder spraying blood over the hallway walls as he screamed in pain. I summoned the other pistol of the pair into my upper right hand firing a round into the first paladin then the second, both in the head.

The remaining paladin stayed still shaking with the scent of fear radiating from him in a palpable cloud. I walked passed him then held one of the pistols to my shoulder, and pulled the trigger. A body thudding to the stone sounded after the weapon fired signaling another kill. Continuing on up the stairs not far from them I went up to the next level. The doorway opened to a large room lined by rusted chains hanging from the high ceiling while the walls held rusted crosses spaced with some distance between each one. Dried blood also marked those crosses, though none of them had anyone tied to them. However two of the hanging chains were tied around the arms of one female. Both of the woman's arms were suspended over her head with the two chains wrapped around them to hold her above the ground.

Her voluptuous form was naked while luscious light pink hair cascaded down her back to just past her tailbone. Upon her form was countless slash marks from some form of torture, a blade or whip I wasn't sure. A muscular man with cleavers on each hand entered the room from a side door making his way to the bound pink haired woman. A sinister grin came to the man's lips before grinding the two weapons together at the blades. Sparks rained from the action giving off a light that made the grin even more sinister. Upon his form was a butcher's apron stained red with blood and ragged pants. Scanning the room let me see a several statues of some hooded figure that held the handle of a stone sword with the tip pointed at the floor. I dismissed the pistols then grabbed the handle with the upper right hand and pulled.

Stone cracked at the fingers around the handle before falling away, letting me move the stone weapon. It was lighter than the earthen weapons I had conjured with my fight against Spark. Quickly shifting my attention back to the blood stained torturer I aimed and threw the weapon. It let out a dull thump similar to a helicopter rotary blade each time the weapon completed a rotation. That stone sword hit the arm just below the shoulder with so much force that the handle barely stuck out the side of the body facing me as it went flying with the momentum. With a thought a large rifle appeared that was like a turret only smaller. On habit I pulled on the circular container on the underside of the weapon.

With a glance I could tell the drum was full of large caliber bullets coated with void energy. I snapped the drum back into place and moved to the hanging woman. My ears flicked at the sounds of armored running. Turning to face the open passage where the butcher like man had come from a group of paladins charged. Immediately I shifted my finger to the trigger and let loose with bursts of fire. The sound of the weapon roared with ferocity sounding bigger than it was with the room amplifying the sounds. Within seconds the group of seven paladins were all killed and their bodies riddled with bullet holes.

"Who...are...you?" A horse voice spoke behind me.

I turned to see the pink haired woman's eyes open to reveal familiar silver of my kind and blue like surface ocean waters. From here I could see the countless scars dotting her front in the form of slashes and cuts, some old some relatively new. I tossed the weapon in my hands up lightly to be caught by telekinetic magic. With that I maneuvered the assault rifle to hover next to the chains above her arms. "I'm here to stop the crazy bastard running this tower." I answered moving to behind the hanging woman. The hovering weapon barked once before she fell down. I crouched down at an angle picking her up bridal style.

"Thanks." The female said still sounding weak.

The strength of her grip was as weak as her voice. "You're half Void Demon aren't you?"

"How do...you know?"

"I can sense it." I supplied. "You might know me as War Maiden." I added walking over to the wall next to the passage with the bullet riddled paladins. Carefully I set her down so she was seated up against the wall.

"The one who killed the master of Phantom Lord." She said sounding not quite as horse as before by a little bit.

I held my upper right forearm near her mouth. "Drink up."

Briefly she stared at my eyes then opened her mouth. Fangs glistened in the light of the room before she bit down on the offered arm. Immediately blood was being drained by her at a steady rate. She gulped down blood several times then released my arm. The half Void Demon licked the bite mark sending a slightly pleasing sensation down my spine.

"How the hell can he wield that thing?!" A shocked male voice echoed from somewhere nearby. Then a burst of magic and the tremors of a heavy strike sounded seconds later.

"Hello Pete." I said right as he stepped foot into the room followed by a familiar pair of heeled boots. Looking over my shoulder Sarah's second in command carried his monstrous weapon that would be impossible for him to use without the aid of his magic. The massive sword was easily the length of his body and probably weighed more than the human himself. It was a blade that was largely straight but had two triangular points on both edges before the sharp tip. The weapon had origins in Purgatory, the realm of true demons. At some point a demon who used it came to Earthland during a war and was killed. After that the weapon exchanged hands countless times over history. As that happened the weapon got more powerful and sort of developed a mind of its own.

While on a solo mission to dispatch a group of Void's Saw relic hunters years ago I encountered Pete who also had a similar mission. We teamed up to eliminate the group and among the artifacts was Beheaver. As some compensation for helping me out I let him take the weapon for his own use. It also helped that the blade chose him as its wielder. When I grabbed it the handle grew spikes, rejecting me.

The man was in his usual attire of a shirt that had something akin to a V-neck that could be tied via strings to close it, though it was left undone. The pants he wore appeared to be leather but in truth was a form of magical silk produced by Driders that could look like leather if tailored that way. That silk provided a lot of protection, easy movement, and the ability to breathe. His boots were armored and blood smeared that stopped at mid shin with the lowest parts of his pants tucked inside them. I stood up to face them. Once close enough I raised a fist up and Pete fist bumped it with a grin. His black hair was a short wild mess as usual and his aquamarine eyes shone with joy. It was the same kind of joy Natsu or I got out of fighting strong opponents.

"This has been quite the experience." He said with a rich English like voice.

"Who were you feeding?" Sarah asked holstering her twin pistols at the hip. The woman looked as enticing as ever in that getup that made her look like a female mafia boss. Naturally the top part of her suit was left undone and folded out to reveal her cleavage.

I turned a little to face the pink haired woman who stood up. Thanks to drinking my blood her injuries had all healed up leaving no trace they had been there. She looked quite a lot like Ikaruga if that woman didn't have her long pink hair tied into two buns on her head. And there was no beauty marks under her eyes. "Not sure." I supplied just to be safe.

"Ikaruga." The woman replied no longer sounding hoarse, but rather with growing confidence. "I was captured by these paladin bastards about a month ago when I tried to stop them from taking children away from a small village." She added with a sigh closing her eyes. They remained closed for a few seconds then opened to show clear determination. "I will take some cloths and a weapon if you have some to spare."

"Got a preference in clothing or weapons?" I asked fully turning to face her while the other two got to my right and left. Ikaruga put a hand on her chin with closed eyes at the same time I felt a hand ghost over the backside of my left thigh near my ass. I jumped slightly at the feeling swatting the offending hand away with the lower left arm. A small grunt like groan sounded to my left. Glancing that direction Sarah's face held a pout much like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Robes are fine for clothing. As far as a weapon I would like a sword." Ikaruga answered opening her mixed colored eyes.

I nodded then held out my four hands and closed my eyes. Bringing forth power I molded it picturing the yukata that Ikaruga wore in the series, minus the flame skull design. It took some time for the entirety of the yukata to appear in my hands formed from void energy. Slowly I opened my eyes to see the article of clothing. It was primarily white in color with some red trimming at the edges. At the waist was an untied black band with a red belt also untied that would secure the yukata in place.

Ikaruga quickly snagged the article of clothing before draping it over her form, then securing it. The woman had fashioned it so that her shoulders were bare, which also displayed her large chest and cleavage well. Following the clothing was a flash of gold forming a large katana inside its sheath. The blade was nearly half the length of my tail and made to be incredibly durable by a highly skilled smith. It was the same smith who forged many of my magical weapons and armor.

"You can create clothing from void energy?" Sarah commented sounding awed. A glance to her again rewarded me with a dumbfounded expression.

"As you just witnessed, yes." I commented. "Let's move on and stop Jellal's plans."

"Aye." Pete and Sarah commented at the same time. With that I jotted down the hallway lined with seven paladin corpses. The others followed me up several flights of stairs to another large room. This place was barren with save for a few crates along the edges of the room. However before us stood a floor of paladins with their weapons at the ready. The weapon that had been hovering just above my head opened fire. Blood sprayed from severed necks and riddled bodies while that weapon let out a long metallic roar. That loud roar was joined by a quieter one from Sarah's pistols. I heard the floating weapon click empty so it vanished and two monsters appeared in my hands.

"Where the hell did you get those?!" The redhead hollered to be heard over the sounds of her pistols firing.

A wave of combined holy magic surged to us from the front most rows of paladins. Hefting up the two turrets I pointed them at the Southern Cross forces and then pulled the triggers. The last gun had nothing on the sheer volume of the turrets spraying bullets so fast it looked much like a laser. It was very much like listening to a Vulcan mini gun sending rounds at targets. Their armor was useless against the turrets, letting the twin weapons turn them into bloody mulch within about a thirty seconds or so.

"You took all the fun out of that encounter." Pete sighed with mild disappointment.

Keeping the twin turrets in my hands I traversed to the other side of the room ignoring the squelch under my feet with each step. Going up the stairs led me to the next floor. Like the one before it was devoid of anything worth looking at. Grunting I turned to face the long wall to the right of the entryway. With only a few seconds pause I aimed at it and opened up with the turrets. The wall fell apart moments later to reveal calm ocean waters and some light from an above source. It was impossible for me not to feel the weight of immense magical energy floating high above. With a thought giant wings sprouted from my back and flexed. The wings were pretty bat like and matched my skin tone.

"I guess we're flying up to another level of the tower." Sarah commented holstering her pistols once more from the sound of it. Then a slight shift of magic washed over her form.

Glancing over my shoulder with the left wing folded up let me see that she had shape shifted into a Pegasus. This form of hers was that of a large horse with wings allowing it to fly. It also was of red color like her hair besides the eyes that held the same two colors as her human form ones. "A pegasus?" I spoke with a raised eyebrow. "Couldn't you have picked another animal?"

Pete grinned hopping onto Sarah's back. "They fly, just like you are going to with those wings."

I shook my head as I faced forwards. "You have a point there." I admitted then turned to Ikaruga. "I have friends in the lower levels of this tower that could use your help."

The pink haired woman nodded. "I will be happy to help them rid this tower of Southern Cross." She turned around to head for the lower levels presumably.

I walked off the ledge following Sarah. The moment my feet left the stone my wings moved keeping me a loft in the air even with the two turrets in my hands. Flying a little distance from the Tower let me see that we had left from one of the middle sections, and that there was another two sections to the Tower. Above the Tower a giant slowly rotating square of gold followed by three more of smaller size before it was visible.

"Looks like that thing is getting close to firing." Sarah commented moving to hover next to me.

I nodded. "There isn't much time left before it does fire." Then I dismissed the turrets feeling much lighter. With that weight gone it was easier to fly around and to the second highest section of the tower. Nearing that section a burst of magic erupted aimed at me. I strafed to the left just avoiding a blast of raging holy energy. Again a blast of holy magic came from one of the arches that bordered the section. With a wave of my hands towards the tower an arsenal of weapons materialized before unloading a hailstorm of bullets along the arch border. A dozen or so bodies crumpled under the attack, but a greater number of others had ducked behind the pillars for cover.

 **"Devouring Hellfire!"** Pete commended from behind me. A burst of power came from him seconds before crimson fire streaked over my wings. That demonic fire was a combination of dark red that was almost black with bright crimson giving it an eerie look. The flames of purgatory had separated into three different paths. Each stream of demonic fire raced to three of the sides of the section ahead of us. One of the three went for the section that I had fired upon igniting the area and anyone within. Bodies fell from the tower accompanied by screams as paladins met their end.

"The fire is safe to enter right?" I asked dismissing the weapons I had summoned.

Pete chuckled softly. "The fire won't harm anyone unless I really want it to."

With a nod I flew to the arches and landed inside a patch of hellfire. As Pete had mentioned it didn't harem me though the area where it resided was quite warm. A faint scent of brimstone and molten rock emanated from the demonic fire. Seeing a wall in front of me I punched it with the upper left hand. The result was an entire section of wall about ten feet wide and 20 feet high shatter. A potent cloud of dust and smoke obscured the make shift entrance to the room.

Hooves clopped onto stone before a shift of energy rippled over Sarah. Glancing to my left she smirked looking at the hole. "Nice door Aether."

"Cheers." I commented extending my wings then beat them once. The action shoved air forwards clearing up the obscuring smoke cloud within seconds. The first thing that I spotted was the familiar figure of a female paladin wearing ornate segmented golden armor. The same armor of the woman who tortured me days ago. The black haired woman stood on a raised platform above the majority of the floor. Next to the woman was a rugged looking man who had the air of experience around him. The armor he wore was similar to that of the woman's though it had heavier armor on the inner thighs, arm pits, elbows, and probably the back of the knees.

The room itself was massive and looked to be some form out indoor garden. The level of the floor held rows of various plants and short trees. Some of those areas with the short trees had sand as if imitating an eastern sand garden. Overall it looked quite pleasing visually. Where the two paladins stood was twin spires of carved stone that twisted upwards to maybe three feet in height. Past the two humans was a small form of building that was long. Perhaps a cabin or something akin to it. The side that was visible held a clay red color to it with three windows spaced out along the length.

With a sigh the male turned to glance at the female younger than him. "We should have done two rituals for the chains." He said quietly though with my ears I heard his voice easily.

The woman shook her head causing her long locks of black hair to sway left then right. "As much as that would have helped that wasn't possible. The ritual to make those is costly and time consuming." She whispered.

I chuckled bringing attention to me from them. "That explains why there wasn't blessed chains on me when I woke up earlier." Heat and the smell of hellfire came to my nose once again funneling to one person. The demonic fire surrounded Pete covering his whole body. The blade on his back glowed orange before the human took it from the sheath with one hand. Meanwhile I pointed a finger at the female paladin. "I told you that I'd kill you human, and I will do just that."

She smirked arrogantly. "We'll see void filth."

Movement caused me to glance to the left to see Sarah's arms shaking. "'Void filth'?" She repeated with anger bleeding into her voice. In a blurred motion the half Void Demon pulled out one of her pistols and fired at the paladins. Seconds later another projectile buzzed over the female paladin's shoulder to impact Sarah's shot, making it explode prematurely. "What the hell?"

The paladin chuckled darkly. "I thought you might show up Sarah Fortune." She said before thudding made itself known. About ten seconds later the body of a humanoid was visible next to her. The thing was several feet taller and covered in metal that held a largely human shape. "So I made sure to have something to keep you in check." One arm of the metal being was in the shape of a cannon from the forearm down while the other was human like, but with four powerful looking fingers.

The eyes of the being glowed an inhuman gold with tiny blue dots in the center. "Threats identified." A monotone machine voice emanated from the metal being.

 _Great. A construct._ I groaned mentally. That would explain the incredible accuracy of hitting Sarah's shot before it could reach the two stationary paladins.

"Sarah Fortune, captain of the airship Fortune's Bounty and half Void Demon. Possesses incredible marksmanship skills with duel pistols and other weapons, very dangerous." The human like head shifted a little to look to its left. "Pete DeVure, First Mate of the airship Fortune's Bounty. Human in possession of the Purgatory artifact Beheaver. Another dangerous individual able to call upon the demonic powers of Beheaver." Then the head shifted to me. "Executioner Aether Wade, full Void Demon and exceptionally dangerous. Responsible for hundreds of causalities to Southern Cross, Void's Saw, and for the eradication of 86 dark guilds. Master of the Knight, Gunner, and Voidslayer magics."

I narrowed my eyes a little at the construct. "How did you get all of that information?"

"It wasn't easy." The old male said drawing my attention. "It took time to investigate that."

"Naturally." I commented dryly.

The female paladin closed her hands around air only for two large swords of potent holy energy to form. Then one of those blades was pointed at me. "Captain Traymor, the man with Beheaver should be a good match up against your blade."

The older male grinned with anticipation. "It will be my pleasure Commander Nyvella." With one hand he reached for the sword strapped to his waist. The moment his hand touched the handle I felt a powerful holy force come alive in it. It felt eager to spill blood and do battle, much like the feeling I got from Beheaver within Pete's hands. It was like the two blades were the same yet polar opposites with one belonging to the Heavens while the other belonged to the demonic realm of Purgatory. In one smooth motion the male pulled out the battle eager blade showing it to us. It was a beautiful silver color with blue zig zag lines running down the length of the duel edged weapon. Aside from the silver color, blue lines, and winged guards it looked like an ordinary longsword.

I watched the female paladin carefully while withdrawing the wings, more or less having them shrink back as if they hadn't sprouted from my back. It was easy for me to sense that the woman was perhaps the most dangerous paladin that I had encountered within this tower. Power slowly came to the surface to start filling the air around me. My ears twitched picking up the female paladin, Commander Nyvella speaking in some language I did not know. Power grew around her to a steady level as she spoke and stayed after she finished speaking in that tongue.

"War Striker, kill the red headed pirate." Nyvella spoke commandingly.

The construct raised up its left arm to snap a salute. "Affirmative Commander Nyvella." Seconds after the machine spoke the right arm lifted with small blasts of magic shooting from it.

"It's on!" Sarah called opening fire with her pistols at a fast past. The bullets canceled out the blasts of magic. However the bullets that did go through the blasts of magic from the construct bounced off its metal form harmlessly. The redhead stopped firing with the tips of her barrels glowing red with smoke coming from them. "I've got this metal beast." Sarah commented holstering her pistols to charge into melee range.

"Foolish." The construct remarked taking aim at her. I saw Sarah smirk before the magical shots came for her. The pirate captain weaved in and around them with nearly mesmerizing skill to reach the machine. A void charged punch landed center mass throwing the construct back a ways to crash over a row of plants and away to the left side of me.

"You are mine Executioner!" Nyvella called vanishing from sight. Hearing a moving disturbance I summoned swords into my upper hands. The moment after they appeared the paladins weapons sparked against them. With a flick one of those blades shifted from my right sword to slash at my face. The holy blade nicked me cutting a line on the right side of my nose at an upward angle.

"Likewise!" I replied hammering two lower punches into her gut. The paladin grunted stepping back then blurring out of range. I sprinted right for Nyvella With a horizontal swing with the left blade. She leaned back out of that one then blocked the follow up attack of the right blade. One holy blade came forward so I turned to the side to let it go by me. My tail raced for the paladin only for her to vanish again, dodging the tail stab. Trying to find her magical presence within the room was hard due to how many magic signatures I felt that were holy in nature. I could sense at least 100 something signatures maybe more.

A shallow slice to my back pulled me from my thoughts. With a slight hiss I spun hitting one of the paladin's holy blades dead on with my right sword. She let out a heavy grunt at the same time the force of the strike made a crater under her feet shattering the ground around her for a short ways. I had her pinned with the right blade since her two weapons blocked one of mine. The woman grunted trying to move up though I applied more weight onto her blades then something moved in the corner of my eye. An armored figure moved at a speed far faster than a normal gray haired man in battle armor should.

"You're fight is with me old man!" Pete roared appearing in the blink of an eye before the old man. He stepped to the side dodging the glowing demonic blade that slammed into the floor. At impact and explosion of magic occurred throwing nearby things away with a blast wave of sorts. The force of the blast was enough to toss me into the air backwards. Flowing with the momentum I performed a back flip to land on my feet. The paladin on the other had pushed herself from the floor trailing dust and small bits of stone.

"Very well, boy." The older paladin spoke getting back onto his feet. I saw his blade readied with it an an angle in front of him at the same time the blue lines began glowing. "It is my duty to put heathens like you in the ground."

The cloud of demonic flames around Pete flared up tacking on a humanoid appearance complete with spikes and horns. "You'll be the one dying here today paladin." Pete said with a dark twisted undertone that no doubt was an influence of Beheaver. **"Gravity Lapse."** He commanded at the same time a neon purple glow covered his body under the crimson effects of the demonic fire. Pete shifted position then vanished from sight, just before a wave of his magic washed over us. The magic clung to my form altering something I couldn't quite place.

"Gravity magic." Traymor commented with a blue glow around his body, mirroring that of the blade he held. "It is rare for one your age to master that magic."

"The time for words is done." Pete said appearing behind Traymor. The paladin smirked before vanishing from sight. The pirate's eyes widened in surprise. Traymor appeared appeared behind Pete to his left swinging his blade horizontally. A shock wave and sparks erupted from them with Pete having moved his weapon to block the paladin's in time.

Returning my attention to Nyvella let me see an empty crater where she had been. Sensing the area I ignored the stationary pockets of holy energy to focus on moving ones. That rewarded me with three, and one of them coming for me. With a smirk I dashed to the side far faster than I had expected. The female's face lit up in surprise as she slowed down. I charged closing the distance of several meters between us within the blink of an eye. This time I slammed the left blade into the two holy ones she had re-conjured. She held her ground momentarily but the force behind the blow sent her flying back a ways. A few cracks ran from one edge of the weapon for maybe an inch or two.

" **Gravity Smash!"** Pete shouted with his magic activating again. The magic caused an explosion of pure force to smash onto his enemy. The effect was more or less like dropping an anvil on top of someone from a distance above them.

" **Divine** **Thunder Bolt!"** Traymor called aiming his weapon at Pete. Golden blue lighting surged from the blade to him with crackling intensity.

Pete swung his weapon upwards at the same time stone from the floor moved up infused with demonic energy. " **Soul stone Barrier!"**

"Don't ignore me Executioner!" Nyvella called rushing for me. I parried her first side strike then the next on on the other side. She quickly followed up with more slashes that I parried with sparks flying between the weapons.

I grinned keeping track of the ever increasing sound of cracks coming from the blade in my upper left hand. "Whoever said I was ignoring you when there is another battle right next to us?" I parried another strike from her then that weapon shattered. With a grin Nyvella used the opportunity to kick me with an armored boot. I grunted with the impact, but caught her leg with the lower right hand. "Don't forget that I have more limbs than you do!" With that I yanked the paladin off her feet throwing her to my right. With a yell of pain she crashed through the front wall of the cabin and through the other side of it from the sound.

" **Radiant Thunder!"** Nyvella spoke sending a large bolt of potent magic at me. It was holy but felt like something more at the same time. It reminded me a bit of the subtle difference between void and shadow magics.

I dodged to the side avoiding the bolt from hitting me just barely. Even without touching the holy magic shocked and burned me at the same time making me wince. It would be bad if magic like that hit me dead on. Without warning the bolt of magic changed direction from a straight line to me after two 90 degree turns. " **Void Frost Barricade!"** Void Ice sprung up a few feet behind me to act as a barrier to the holy electricity. The barrier exploded into dark violet shards of ice, though it stopped the magic coming for me.

" **Void Demon's Roar!"** Sarah's voice boomed from one side of the giant room. The attack roared in between the two of us cutting a half circle in the stone steps.

" **Divine Barrier!"** Traymor yelled out summoning a barrier that shielded him from the roar. However the breath attack washed over Pete to grant him some form of bonus. My guess was a damage boost to his attacks, lacing them with small amounts of void energy.

I charged my tail with void lightning to use that as an extra weapon if she was close enough. Nyvella threw one of her holy blades at me. I deflected it with the right blade then switched out the weapon for the Shadowphoenix Spear in my upper hands. " **Shadowflame Burst!"** I called shoving the tip of the weapon at the female paladin. There was a two second pause before an eruption of black fire roared up much like a geyser spewing water.

Nyvella screamed moving away from the spot where the flames had erupted under her feet. Her path led her through one long row of plants spreading the black phoenix fire onto them. I smirked watching her run through another row of plants seeming hoping to have them remove the fire from her form. That plan was partially working with some of the fire coming off to be on the plants. It did provide me with a advantage by getting rid of a number of holy signatures as the plants burned.

" **Radiant Firestorm!"** Nyvella called conjuring a raging storm of golden fire around her body. The golden flames burned away the black ones on her form. That let me see the damage that had been done, and it was minor where her skin was visible. However her armor took the brunt of the heat with its ornate look lost and some of it appearing just a little melted. "Burn in the radiant fire of the Heavens!"

I raised up one foot then slammed it into the ground. " **Tempest Blizzard Devastation!"** With that a circular shock wave went out form the impact of my foot. In the wake of the blast wave void ice erupted from the ground at the same time arctic winds spun in a circular fashion. Within seconds the shadowflames from my spear were flash frozen as well as the plants in the room rendering them dead. The floor was covered in a layer of void ice that would make traveling over it hard without slipping.

"What the hell Aether!" Sarah's voice boomed from the side with quite a bit of annoyance dripping from it. I took the risk and looked to her direction to the left side of the room from the hole I mad. She was shaking and holding her arms close to her body, clearly cold. The machine a little ways from her also suffered something similar. I could see a layer of void ice clinging to some of the joints making it move slower than before and jerky in the movement of the cannon arm.

"Cloak yourself in fire to stay warm fool!" I commented loudly to be heard over the distance with a shake of my head. With a quick motion Sarah flipped me off before summoning a cloud of void fire to encase her form. Power flowed from Nyvella once more bringing my attention back to the human. The sharp green eyes I had seen earlier glowed a fierce gold that matched the glow outlining her body. The void ice near her receded as if cleansed or backing up from a harmful source.

"My father always had a twisted obsession with your kind. He went into the dark to find ways to control Void Demons." Nyvella seethed with pent up anger. At the same time her left hand clenched tightly. "Drake Havern abandoned mother and I to make your kind suffer!" The clenched hand began shaking with an even greater rise of power from her.

My eyes widened a bit with a jolt of surprise. _She is The Commandant's daughter?!_ I screamed internally. That certainly explained why her eyes looked so familiar. Though it was interesting to see that Nyvella had gone to Southern Cross while her father had delved into the Void and a Zeref Cult.

Nyvella pointed at me with her right hand. "Then he came across you. A demon who he could not break regardless of the torture you suffered, and the same one who killed him in this tower." Her body tensed at the legs with her right foot resting on the balls of her feet. "Then he was resurrected after this tower's destruction. Years later he was killed again!" Within the blink of an eye she was in front of me with a glowing sword of holy fury ready to cut me in half. I shifted the Shadowphoenix Spear just in time to block the strike. The force behind it was surprising, further cracking the stone under me. "I was supposed to kill him and you stole that from me!"

I pushed back against her force feeling the energy around her form attempt to touch me. To combat that I wrapped myself in potent void energy giving myself a violet glow. "I had no choice but to kill that fiend." I countered shoving her back then spun the spear in my hands. The blade slashed up her left arm through the armor and several times cut into the chest armor that was thicker than the part on her arms. "I was the one with the opportunity to kill him the second time by his own hand!" With a flash of light my weapons swapped for Galefury and Tempest Turn.

" **Radiant Geyser!** " Traymor called a split second before a geyser of radiant holy magic erupted under me.

"Shit!" I spat feeling the radiant magic burning my skin even worse than any paladin magic I had felt before while fighting one. The magic had blasted me up into the air a bit with some backwards force. I grunted landing on my feet several feet from where I had been standing. A good portion of my arms and legs displayed burnt flesh that was either reddish from light burning or actual flesh that bled a bit. The majority of the damage was on my legs since the geyser had exploded under me. There was a trail of blood droplets from the explosion to where I landed. Pointing each blade at Traymor and the construct I focused magic that crackled lively around the two blades. " **Tempest Cannon!"** With that a circle of clouds formed above both targets within moments. Following that was a boom of electricity hammering down onto them.

Traymor screamed as the electricity shocked him letting go of his weapon momentarily. That was all the opening Pete needed to kick the aged paladin in the chest sending him away from the holy artifact he was wielding. " **Hellfire Geyser!"** The following moment a geyser of hellfire erupted right at the ground where Traynor landed.

With a yell the hellfire was shoved off of the old paladin's form, though he was not unscathed by the demonic fire. His armor trailed lots of smoke and a part or two glowed slightly, and the armor overall was quite scorched. The human himself also sported burns on his face including one eye that was destroyed. He closed a hand over empty air only to have his weapon materialize into that hand. The blade glowed fiercely as if the weapon itself was angry and in pain. "As long as I hold this blade I will not loose." The old human said though his tone was threaded with pain.

Pete chuckled darkly. "Then I will make sure you are not holding it." With that he charged forwards almost faster than I could track to slash upwards. The paladin blocked his attack that would have cut off that arm. Pete's free hand punched the belly armor of the paladin. " **Gravity Cannon."** An explosion of magic occurred at his fist. Traymor's form catapulted from where he had been standing to smash painfully against a wall. Pete shifted readying another slash attack, though he didn't get closer. " **Gravity Cleave."** The effect when he swung the Beheaver was impressive. An arc of energy surged to the target cutting through everything in its path. The human pirate followed that up with another slash of the same nature.

Traymor was a dead man with those two arcs coming for him. Seconds later the paladin had his arms severed by the arcs. With a thought I summoned a shotgun next to his limp body then had it fire, just to ensure the paladin was completely dead. Hearing ice crack I glanced at the construct to see no more void ice on it. Shortly it turned to fire on me with a stream of small magical bullets. I charged right at Nyvella to have her be between the construct and myself. Once I got to her side I slashed at the paladin commander with both weapons. Nyvella leaned out of the first slash with Galefury then parried Tempest Turn.

Opening her hand she conjured another radiant sword and launched into a rapid series of attacks with both weapons. Smirking I conjured two void blades to occupy my lower hands. With the four blades I parried all of her strikes then put the paladin on the defensive, forcing her to move backwards from my onslaught. Since I hadn't felt magic bullets near me that meant the construct didn't fire with Nyvella in the way. It didn't matter to me if that was due to simply not wanting to injure her or not being able to via programming.

"Your father was an evil that had to die or it would fester into worse." I spoke using my four blades to lock up her two. Her eyes widened when they happened along with the slight scent of fear. She tried to pull the conjured weapons back, but they didn't budge. Ignoring the fear from her I continued. "You are just as evil as he was for being in Southern Cross. Your organization has tortured, killed, and enslaved others for any _possible_ contact with the Void. It is nothing more than evil with a different color." Since she was stuck I had my tail stab her. The tip, charged with void energy, went through her armor and the cloud of radiant magic. The dexterous limb punched clean through her left lung on the lower part of it. However burns covered part of my tail that likely was from an attempt to change the trajectory. With a grunt I untangled my weapons from her and kicked the paladin back from me.

"Commander Nyvella; vital signs dangerous." The construct noted shifting to aim at me with the beat up, but still functioning, cannon arm. My right ear flicked briefly to the sound of Nyvella landing on the battered stone floor. Just beyond the construct lay Sarah's unmoving form, covered in countless burn marks from the magical projectiles of her opponent.

"Time to turn you into scrap metal." I commented taking a step forward. However I stopped before my foot touched the floor, then moved it to the right of where it was going to land. I looked down at that spot and threw out my senses. With a bit of concentration something was revealed. A holy mine in the form of a cloaked rune resided where I had nearly stepped and it wasn't alone. There was a pattern of them covering most of the floor but not the far back side that contained a staircase past a door frame. "Watch your foot-" I didn't get to finish that sentence as an explosion of holy magic roared behind me.

I turned to see Pete fly up into the air with burns on his arms and blood trailing his form. The demonic fires around his body had receded greatly as if damaged, and it might have for all I knew of Beheaver's properties. " **Gravity Shift!** " Pete's voice echoed from his side of the room, once again sending out the spell's effect as wide as possible. Without warning I felt the weight of gravity disappear and for my form to slowly float off of the floor. I caught sight of Sarah's form also float up as if she was in water.

With this I could try something since I wasn't on the floor. I flicked my tail at the floor calling. " **Void Sand Collapse!** " A barely visible ripple of energy went from my tail to the floor. Once it touched the floor that it quickly shifted from solid stone to black and purple colored sand. With the floor changed to something not so solid the runes dispersed and vanished. Once again I called forth my wings then moved for the construct.

The construct was buried in the sand up to the knees. However its metal frame began glowing gold with magic. " **Avo's Shock Wave."** A wave of force erupted from the construct freeing it from the sand. That wave hit me to the ground hard, forcing me to eat some sand. Several seconds later a pained screech sounded loudly. I put hands on my head as ringing drowned out most sound.

Familiar magic exploded suddenly, so I opened my eyes. Sarah smashed her foot on the ground with force. " **Void Earth Prison!** " With that sand enveloped the construct then hardened. Following that Sarah charged at the immobile construct hammering a fist shrouded in raging void lightning and void fire. "Die you bastard!" She roared at the moment of impact. The prison shattered into pieces signaling the death of the machine. With that only one more was left to kill.

"Good work." I commented getting up from the sand covered floor. Sarah grinned ignoring the blood that streaked down her face slowly from a wound above her left eye. Magic gathered in the air before it rumbled with the density of it. Instantly I was drawn to the one remaining enemy in the room. Like a heat wave the air around Nyvella appeared distorted with small chunks of rock at her feet floating up.

Glaring at me while holding one hand over the stab wound from my tail she spoke. " **Avo's Divine Thunder Wave.** "

With my lower arms I aimed the hands at Pete and Sarah giving them a Void Barrier each. Meanwhile I held my left arm in front of me at an angle to protect. Moments after I had shielded them the potent magic ripped through the room. The potent magic burned and shocked me at the same time, similar to the first time I had been hit by a divine spell. Gritting my teeth I felt the electricity course through my body for a time probably damaging nerves. I made a protective layer of void magic stay around my head as to prevent it from getting damaged, though I let the rest of my body take the hit at more or less full force. However despite the pain there was something about the spell that made me let out a dark laugh. Overall it felt weaker than what I remembered of the previous time a divine spell infused with lightning had done to me.

"What are you laughing about demon?" Nyvella asked with pain clearly evident in her voice.

I lowered the arm I held up slowly as the magic faded to let me see the paladin's eyes on me. Overall my body felt rather numb though it responded how I wanted. Smoke came off of my form in thin wisps at the same time I let up the aura of void magic. "That hurt, though I already know someone better then you at lightning manipulation." She must have know who I was talking about since her face displayed open shock and realization at once. With a flap of my wings I hopped the distance between her and me. A shotgun materialized next to her head and readied a round with a notable coking of the hammer. I studied the human who slightly leaned forward being a little shorter than myself. Her armor had long since lost the brilliant sheen it was at the start of the fight. Most of it now had holes containing wounds that bled, with the biggest being the one covered by her left hand. "Do you have a final request?"

Her face changed to skeptical. "Are you...serious?" I did not reply, but simply waited for her to think it over. After a minute or so Nyvella sighed.

"If it is within reason I will fulfill it." I clarified to her. I wasn't quite sure what to expect as this was the first time I offered something this to a member of Southern Cross.

Nyvella looked to the ground for some time. After that she closed her free hand into a fist then held it up. Opening her hand revealed a diamond shaped crystal that glowed a soft blue green. "This crystal will help you find my son..." The paladin paused raising her head to look me in the eyes. There was a sense of regret in her eyes as which I had not seen earlier. Sadness also had a place in them for something. "When you do find him give the crystal to him."

Nodding slowly I reached out to her extended hand with one of mine. I grabbed the crystal from it with two fingers. Once I had it within the upper right hand I with drew the limb. "What is in the crystal?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

Nyvella snorted then winced. "The truth." She shook her head then chuckled softly. "My son was right all along. Your kind is not pure evil, just like humans." Nyvella coughed a few times spitting out blood. "Return me to Gruen where I was born."

I nodded again ignoring the hovering shotgun to change my lower right arm into a void blade. With that I stabbed her in the heart, splitting the organ in two. That killed her and tipped her body to me.

"Who would have thought a commander of southern Cross could have remorse?" Sarah commented to my left as I caught Nyvella's body with my left arms.

I let a small smile come to my lips. "I guess that still proves they're human." Sarah shook her head a little placing her battle scorched hat back on. "Take the paladin's body and the crystal for now. I'll bury her in Gruen later, and take this other crystal for the salve collars." I said handing over the crystal over Nyvella gave me to Sarah, then the other I had collected for the slave collars.

"I'll carry the body." Pete said walking up to my right.

I turned to him and let the him pick up Nyvella's corpse. I caught a glimpse of tears in the closed eyes. Turning from that to the stairway I breathed in deep then out slowly. "Go back to Fortune's Bounty and stay nearby. Its likely that the Satellite Cannon will fire anyway and the tower may not be able to absorb all of the blast."

"Sounds like last words to me Aether." Sarah commented drawing my attention to her. She had crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hardly." I grinned recalling my wings as I looked her in the eyes. "I will survive this and save him. I just don't want others getting caught up in a fight at Wizard Saint level."

"You do have a point there, but can you really take him on as you are?" Sarah countered.

I shrugged. "I'll manage." I replied walking away. "Make sure to get the others if you can." I added then started jogging to the stairs and up them. They went on for some time then at one point another stairway connected to the one I was on.

"Sister." Two voices said at the same time. I stopped seeing Simon and Jack come to a stop at the stairs next to me. Both men held some scratches and bruises visible on their forms and their clothing also held damage.

"Good to see you two in good health." I said moving to hug both of them. They eagerly returned the hug for ten seconds then we split apart.

"What happened to you?" Jack said gesturing to me. "looks like ya went through a grinder."

I chuckled. "Took down the commander of the Southern Cross forces and took a divine spell without protection."

Jack nodded. "That would explain the dam-" He stopped mid sentence at the sound of fabric tearing. I looked down to see the bandages that held my breasts in place finally break and fall to the floor. That let my them bounce freely without restraint. I looked up to both of them to see quite a bit of red on their faces. I felt a little heat on my own cheeks, though It didn't last long. With a wave of a hand over my chest I conjured cloth to be covering my breasts again for their sake.

They calmed down after that, but were still red in the face. "I want the both of you to go get out of this tower to Fortune's Bounty."

"Why?" Jack said sounding a little hurt, though I could have been imagining that. "We want to help you."

I placed a hand on his shoulder. "You have, but I don't want you getting killed in the crossfire of a fight with a Wizard Saint."

"She's right." Simon said gently with a nod. Jack looked between him and me a few times then sighed.

"Alright." He said though he didn't exactly sound happy about it. "We'll leave that fight to you sister."

I nodded. "Be safe brothers." I said watching them turn around to go back down the stairs they had come up. Once they were out of view I continued climbing up feeling the pressure of a headache build due to the immense magical energies hovering over the tower. Ignoring that I eventually came to a large room that was barren save for two things. one was a throne occupied by Jellal clad in a robe with the hood up. Second was a large glowing Lacrima Crystal that was roughly 15 feet or so tall.

"I'm not surprised that you are the one to get here first."Jellal commented shifting his head up to look me in the eyes. "You are one of the most powerful women I have ever met, due to your constant fighting."

I smirked. "That does help to make one stronger." I agreed. "But enough talk..."I paused summoning a claymore into the upper hands. "It is time I strike you down Jellal."

"Strike me down?" He repeated then laughed rising from the stone throne. "You think you can kill a Wizard Saint?"

I pointed the blade in the upper left hand at him. "I've killed a Wizard Saint before. I can do it again." I retorted.

Jellal grinned pulling down the hood of his robe. "You may have killed Jose Porla, but I am far stronger than that miserable man was."

My grip on the weapons tightened. Jellal was right on that regard. I could clearly feel the amazing amount of magical power at his disposal, and I could feel it extend to another place. "Still got that projection in Era? It is pointless as you will need all your power to stop me human." Jellal's face twitched and paled briefly but composure replaced it seconds later.

Power began to radiate from the human across from me giving his body a golden glow that for once wasn't holy magic related. "You will die here alone, Aether Wade."

I chuckled. "Alone? We'll see about that." I surged forward attacking with the left blade first. Sparks flew from the hand he put in the path of the blade. I wasn't surprised Jellal compressed magic within his hands to effectively negate the damage. Ignoring that I pressed on attacking with the second blade. Jellal leaned out of the way just in time to avoid getting sliced across his face. My tail lashed out smacking him in the back violently. Jellal let out a surprised grunt flying face first into a wall.

Jellal recovered quickly aiming a hand at me. " **Bind Snake** **.** " He said as my body stopped moving and a moving pattern of chains covered me. The magic felt similar to Jose's **Binding Ghosts** though there was not dark component to it.

I grinned exuding void energy from my entire body. The spell did not hold up to the Void Energy's ability to break down spells into raw magical energy. Within thirty seconds Jellal's spell was dismantled. "Don't you know the special property of Void Energy? It breaks down spells into pure power and then eats it." The surprised look came again but also left his face quickly.

Jellal grunted lowering his hand. "You are a monster." He commented shaking his head a little.

I narrowed my eyes a little at him dismissing the two claymores. That word felt like a dagger stabbed clean through a hand to the hilt. It hurt since I still knew that the Jellal of my past was buried somewhere within the man I faced now. I gathered up that pain and shoved it to the back of my mind to focus. There would be time to feel it later. "You've got just as much blood on your hands as I do." That blood wasn't put on his hands directly, but mostly through the use of others to do his bidding.

Jellal stared at me for a time then shrugged. "Perhaps."

I sped at him with a kick aimed at his head. However the man vanished in gold light faster than my attack. So the kick impacted the wall blowing out a large section. Turning around I saw him speed around the room. I closed my eyes in concentration waiting for Jellal to get close. After a time I felt him come to me. Carefully I waited counting the time until I could grab him despite the man's speed. After ten seconds he came in for a right handed punch that I caught. Without hesitation I pulled him to me and used all of my body to lock him in place.

"Regardless of how powerful a mage is there are things that can kill you easily." I said making sure to have Jellal's head in a bind that would choke him. "Like strangulation." He struggled against my hold but to no avail. Using all of my limbs I made sure he couldn't break out of the hold as biology more than magic let me keep him in place. Then the headache spiked painfully with the magic of the Satellite Cannon rising. "This is gonna hurt..." I muttered though I was quite certain Jellal heard me. Seconds later blinding white light engulfed everything.

* * *

As I mentioned at the top Aether's harem is listed here (and it is kinda long as mention in a previous chapter). I will list where these characters are from excluding the Fairy Tail ones (though to get the juicy details about each the story has got to progress to where they are met/introduced). I will warn ya guys that there are a number of OCs for this...

Edit: a few things changed with aether's harem since I posted this last time. To reflect that I've made changes to this list. You'll have to wait and see why Sivir and Irelia were taken off the list when they were on it previously.

1- Erza Scarlet

2- Mirajane Strouss

3- Kushina Uzumaki (Naruto)

4- Kaguya Ootsutsuki (Naruto)

5- Erza Knightwalker

6- Cana Alberona

7- Female Corrin (Fire Emblem Fates)

8- Camilla (Fire Emblem Fates)

9- Ultear

10- Ur (mother of Ultear)

11- Sayla

12- Hisui Fiore (when she is older, like the time of the Grand Magic Games)

13- Irene Belserion (mother of Erza Scarlet)

14- Akasha Bloodriver (she is from Rosario+Vampire, but only really seen in the Manga as the anime doesn't show her. mother of Moka Bloodriver)

15- Moka Bloodriver (I know the last name is not the same as it is in Rosario+Vampire- that was on purpose)

16- Natsumi

17- Maeruune (OC)

18- Akaari Kord (OC)

19- Sybera (OC)

20- Ahri (League o Legends)

21- Ashe (League o Legends)

22- Nidalee (league o legends)

23- Amarllys (oc)

24- Alyn Orianna Silvermist (oc)

25- Lucina (fire emblem awakening)

26- Sumia (fire emblem awakening)

27- Cherche (fire emblem awakening)

28- Cordelia (fire emblem awakening)

29- Blood-queen Lenaira (oc)

30- Sera'neth (oc)

31- Taravelkia (oc)

32- Alexstrasza (world of warcraft)

33- Ysera (world of warcraft)

34- Sarah Fortune (league of Legends, otherwise known as "Miss Fortune")

35- Katarina Du Couteau (league of legends)

36- Shigyou Yuyami (Diamond Cut Diamond- an awesome manga that I have read several times that sadly hasn't gotten an update in quite some time. that aside it has a good story that revolves around a group of teens with esper powers. I recommend giving it a read if you don't mind a female lead that is a fighter who also has a giant rack.)

37- Leora Nightveil (oc)

38- Luna (oc)

39- Avo (oc)

40- Olivia (fire emblem awakening)

41- Xenna (oc)

42- Valeria (oc)

43- Kattryn Wraithlance (oc)

44- Kera (oc)

45- Mirage Farina Jenius (from Robotech/Macross. More specifically Macross Delta anime)

46- Sayaka Kirasaka (Strike the Blood)

47- La Folia Rihavein (Strike the Blood)

48- Natasha Dragneel

49- Asmodeus (oc)

50- Satan (oc)

This is my master list if you will for Aether's harem, the number I am content with. However there are three women who could be put onto this list by your votes (which I will keep track of via reviews as I have no idea how to do the vote thing for this site sadly). Those three are: **Kagura Mikazuchi** \- one of you readers has already expressed adding her to the harem, but there is a long time to decide if she will be in it or not. **Moka Akashiya** \- her appearance in the story will be explained when the story gets there. Moka is my second favorite female vampire only topped by her mother Akasha. **Sonya** \- the final female who could be added to the harem if enough of you desire it. this story will cover the Dragon Cry movie though I am not quite sure exactly when that will happen due to the powers Team Natsu use during said movie (such as Gray's Ice Devilslayer magic and Lucy's ability to grant herself the powers of her celestial spirits in the form of themed clothing).

On another note I find it annoying that the Purgatory Armor that Erza has is claimed by her to be one of her strongest, yet it gets destroyed before we get to see what powers the thing has every time. So what power do you guys think the Purgatory Armor should have? leave a review with your thoughts on it and I will also think of what it might be.

Next Time: Sacrifice's Secret


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